The First Gothic Book One A Wizard In Training
by gothicjedi666
Summary: As suggested by a few of my reviewers I'm doing a Harry Potter self insert. Thanks to Selias helping me with the plot. This chapter is dedicated to you as a thank you. After randomly picking a reward Gothic must now adapt to his new life as a student at Hogwarts. Given his knowledge of this world it should be simple enough for him to survive and prosper in this world. Shouldn't it.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note. **

**As suggested by a few of my reviewers I'm doing a Harry Potter self insert. Thanks to Selias helping me with the plot. This chapter is dedicated to you as a thank you. **

**Also as this an AU I'm looking for some charters that could be in the same year as my character if you have a HP character who could end up being in the same social group as James then let me know. **

**Plot. **

**After randomly picking a reward James must now adapt to his new life as a student at Hogwarts. Given his knowledge of this world it should be simple enough for him to survive and prosper in this world. Shouldn't it? **

**Warnings. **

**Nothing major for now but there might be the odd swear word. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part One. **

**The Hogwarts Express. Platform Nine And Three Quarters. King's Cross Station. London.**

A loud noise woke me up and somewhere in the recesses of my mind I recognised the sound as that of a steam whistle. My eyes opened slowly and I found myself making eye contact with a strange looking blond girl who wore something that resembled those so called X-ray specs you got with comic books as a kid.

"Oh good your awake" commented the girl "I thought the Wrackspurts would never leave you alone".

Wrackspurts? What the hell were Wrackspurts? And more importantly why had they been bothering me?

"No I was just tired" I lied not really knowing what to say "I was in a bar last night".

The second part was true at least it had been night there at least although what time it was now I had no clue.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking?" asked the scruffy looking pre-teen.

Well I'd always looked younger than I actually was but I doubt anyone would think me under eighteen even with that silly challenge twenty five rule.

"No I'm..." the words died on my lips.

My voice sounded wrong and it seemed as if I to small for my own body. Touching my face I felt the lack of facial hair and then with horror I figured it all out. I confirmed my worries by checking out my reflection in the window which was faint but I could see enough to know the truth.

I was a kid again!

How had this happened? Wait the Traveller that was right I'd picked a card and that card had shown what exactly? Me with a wand standing over a cauldron. That was it. So that meant I was a Wizard. Oh god I was in Harry Potter's world! And I looked like an elven year old!

Without meaning to I patted myself down, found the wand and did the first spell that came into my head. Aiming for the pile of books next to me I said.

_Wingardium Leviosa_

All of the books in the pile floated into the air and then dropped to the floor once I ended the spell.

I was rather pleased as those had been heavy books and had I remembered the flick and swish part it would of worked better.

Next I used

_Accio_

And brought one of the books into my waiting free hand.

"Wow that's amazing!" exclaimed the x-ray spec wearing dotty girl "could you teach me that spell".

For a few moments I didn't reply I just stood there going through a series of emotions each amazingly intense until I settled on a mixture of mostly relief and part happiness . I had a wand

that I could use and the spells that I remembered from the books (again rather clearly) seemed to work or at least two did so far.

I then got back on track and realised that the girl I was sharing my compartment with seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

"Oh yeah sure if you don't mind answering a few questions".

The girl seemed to take for granted that I'd be confused.

"The Wrackspurts will leave you a bit fuzzy for a while so I'll help you until you start remembering".

If she weren't clearly insane I'd call her sweet and rather adorable under her messy hair and silly toy glasses. I shook my head and tried not to feel like a man in his twenties who was hanging around with an underage girl alone in a train compartment who wasn't his daughter. It just felt to weird that way.

Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to try and feel the age I looked as I felt no desire to have sex with the girl next to me. Which made sense since if I remembered right I didn't start think of those things until I was at least twelve maybe even older.

Then I realised that I was going to have to go through puberty again and it hadn't been pretty the first time and bet they didn't have the products I'd used the first time round as this would be about 92/93.

Which also meant no Xbox 360 or even a regluar Xbox. How I would survive fifteen to seventeen without my Playstation?.

I stopped myself from having an embarrassing panic attack and made myself focus on the present. I could worry about the lack of video games and spot cream later for now I needed to find out not where I was but when I was.

"So tell me about yourself?" I asked knowing that an open ended question would be best for information gathering.

The young woman (as I tried to think of her as I didn't want to think of myself as a boy) went to into great detail about her life as if she'd been desperate to talk about this for a very long time. Most of what she said meant nothing to me but I learned a few things of importance.

She was Luna Lovegood. And this was to be her first year of Hogwarts. She knew she'd be in Ravenclaw. Oh the date on her magazine said that it was September 1st 1992 I knew this because her the sound of her gentle voice lost my attention quite quickly (although that could have something to do with me having a child's attention span) and I ended up reading the front page magazine which was upside down from my point of view but I discovered that it had something to do with gum disease and dark magic.

On the surface of things these four facts (the gum disease thing didn't count) didn't seem like much but it told me a lot.

If this was Luna's first years it was Harry Potter's second since is a year behind Harry in the books. Since it was the first of September it was to late to stop Tom Riddle's Dairy from entering the school. But I could take it from Ginny Weasley and destroy it if I could find something that could destroy Horcruxes.

I chided myself for thinking such things. It wasn't a good idea to get too involved in the events of Potter's life as it might get me killed. But maybe I wouldn't have to. I didn't have to destroy the Horcrux I could just get it out of the school and leave it somewhere no one would ever interact with it. If not one wrote in it then nothing bad would happen.

The one in the Gringotts vault never did anything because the Horcruxes needed to interact with people before they become active. So if I hid the Dairy somewhere then there would be no opening of the Chamber of Secrets and no risk of me turning to stone.

The train whistled again and started up just as an Owl flew through the window. The bird dropped its letter and flew off before the train picked up any real speed. The whole delivery took place so fast that Luna didn't notice anything until after the bird was flying out of the window.

"Was that your Owl" she inquired "it was very pretty".

I grimaced at the idea of owning something that could described as pretty but I didn't remark on that instead I said.

"Yeah I guess".

Ignoring any other comments the crazy girl made I opened the letter and read it.

_Dear James. _

_After seeing what card you picked I have to admit that at first I was somewhat disappointed. I had such plans for my you. But then I remembered that there's a least a few hundred more of you out there to mess with and I cheered up. _

I had to admit there had been better selections to pick from. Being the Overlord would have been awesome.

_Anyway it occurred to me that letting you lose on a world you only know via seven books and eight films wasn't worth what I owe you. So being the kind hearted Cosmic Horror that I am I decided to give you a few advantages._

My heart beat sped up as I imaged what he could mean by advantages. Also the Cosmic Horror part worried me a little.

_First I given you a sort of Occlumency shield that will work automatically with no effort needed by from you. You'll need this is as Occlumency is a hard skill to learn as it involves clearing ones mind of emotion which is a bit tricky for a child manage. Mastering it would allow you to trick anyone whose reading your mind by showing them thoughts and feelings that you want them to see but its doubtful you could learn this art before Snape starts reading your thoughts. _

That did sound like a useful skill but I was glad that I didn't have to learn it as it would take too long.

_From what I saw in your mind your quite capable of departmentalising yourself to the extent that not even a master Legilimens could tell what you are really thinking but this is of limited use if you ever face a true mind reader like say Professor X from the Marvel Comics. _

Wow this guy err thing had really taken a good look around my mind. He seemed to know more about me than I did.

_What I've done is to layer a fake mind around your own this way anyone trying to read your thoughts either by magic or mental powers will only see the mind I put up to cover yours. _

I couldn't help but smile at this point as while being mind reader proof wasn't the kind of power I had been hoping for it was still something that would come in very useful. I'd be able to lie to the likes of Snape and Dumbledore with ease. I'd be able to get away with a lot of mischief this way.

_As you have just figured out this little gift of mine will allow you to get away with quite a lot of mischief while at that silly school. _

Guess he really did know me.

_Its my hope that you do as it should very entertaining._

Wait was he going to spy on me?

_No don't worry I won't be spying on you directly. I'll just pop by now and again to see what you have been up to. I'll likely be more amused by what the other versions of yourself are up to so I won't interfere I promise. It will be more like watching a movie or reading a fan fiction._

Now why didn't I trust that last statement? And what on Earth was he getting up to with other versions of myself?

_Aside from making sure no interfering candy lovers and piss poor excuses for teachers don't go around raping your under-age mind I've also gifted you with a few other things. _

I held my breath in anticipation.

_Your an Animagus as well you can turn into a fox at will. Of course since your eleven you'll turn into an almost mature fox cub until you grown up a bit so be careful. _

That sounded useful as well. Foxes weren't that odd of a sight in the UK. I'd have to be careful not to run into any fox hunts but other than that I should be okay.

_Now onto some personal details. This is your first year at the school and unless things go very wrong you should complete all seven years before starting what I hope is an interesting career._

Knowing this world as I did I'd either end up with some low end ministry job or I'd be the next dark lord.

_Your name is this world is Damien Mason_

(Author Note: I'm reusing the name because I'm awful at making up names and I like Damien Mason its a good name)

_Your the last surviving member of a minor Pureblood family of moderate wealth although you are a Half-Blood yourself with a now dead muggle mother and a wizard father who passed on a few weeks ago which will explain your knowledge of both the magical and muggle world. _

So an orphan then, well at least it would it would prevent me from having to put up with having some strangers as a family.

_Given that you have no living relatives (or at least Damien doesn't) arrangements have been made for you to spend your summers with a different Wizarding family ever year. You can't live on your own because there is no way any society would allow such a young person to live by themselves. _

I'd read more than one Harry Potter fan fic were Harry gets emancipated at the age of eleven. That whole idea was ridiculous no court would let a pre-teen live unsupervised even if he did have the money to support himself.

_You'll have to stay at the school for Christmas and Easter unless you get yourself an invite to someone else's home. I'm sure Luna would love to have a friend over she's got a gift of her own to share with you. _

Not for the first time I wondered why Wizards who didn't worship Jesus (or anyone or anything for that matter) celebrated Easter with a holiday. Christmas I could understand as even I use to celebrate Christmas with my family even thought I didn't go to Church or even pray but why would magical folk do the same? The influence of muggleborns or perhaps they simply celebrated the older Pagan holidays of winter and spring solstice in a more modern manner.

To the best of my recollection the students didn't get a week of for Easter which made me suspect that this was alternate universe like which would be shown in fan fictions. In fact that likely why the Traveller's note mentioned fan fics.

I also thought about why the Traveller had arranged things so Lovegood and I met on the train. Was he setting me up with her? If so it might have been better to make us met when we were both a bit older. Then again beings at his level of power tended to have reasons for doing things that aren't apparent to us lowly mortals at least at first. I'd watched enough science fiction to know that.

I'd not failed to notice the part about Luna having a gift of her own to share but I'd have to wait to find out what that was. It wasn't as if I could ask if she'd gifted a power by a mysterious being who looked like me. Then again she'd likely tell me said even if she hadn't since kids tend to over-active imaginations.

_You have a bank account the Key is in your trunk and you are due to inherit your families' modest fortune and properties at the age of seventeen. A trust fund has been set up to cover expenses until then. I took the liberty of supplying what you need for this year and added a sum of gold to your pouch. _

So money shouldn't be a problem for me until after school. I was sure I could come up with a few ways to make some money before leaving Hogwarts.

Checking the pouch I found it heavy with gold, silver and bronze coins. An amount that should last me a while.

_I also made sure that you exist in both worlds rather than just the wizard one. The paperwork is at your family home which will get access to when you turn seventeen. _

By paperwork he must of meant a birth certificate and such. People weren't that I.D crazy yet I could remember getting into pubs at fifteen and no one had ever asked me for ID until the year two thousand came about. But if I wanted a proper bank account and a job in the normal world I'd need that kind of documentation.

_If there something else you need write it on the back of this letter and I will get around to as soon as I can just don't go asking for to much or I might get upset. _

That sounded mild but that the Traveller had ripped apart my mind, body and soul, then put it back together with pieces missing before making his own improvements as a sort of greeting. I really didn't want to find out what would happen if he got annoyed with me. I'd save requesting stuff for a emergences or maybe just ask for minor stuff that wouldn't require to much effort.

_P.S Paperwork like your Hogsmede forum and OWL class choices were filled in by me. I'll let you guess what classes I signed you up for. _

Knowing my luck it would be Muggle Studies and Divination the two most useless classes offered at the school but there wasn't anything I could do about that. The Traveller could do whatever it wanted to do to me and there wasn't a thing I could about it. At least it didn't seem to be deliberately cruel if anything it seemed more mischievous than evil.

"Who was that letter from?" asked Luna.

"My dad he died recently" I lied while trying to sound sad about it "he must of prepared this letter in advance its just school stuff".

The girl couldn't help but display her sympathy towards me by hugging me (which felt odd since I didn't know her) and I took note that Lovegood seemed much more open and well sane than she did in the books. I assumed that was because she hadn't yet been bullied to the point were she had been driven into her own little world inside in her own head in order to escape her torments.

I knew about such things it had happened to me. I hated bullies (still did in fact) but I'd never had the physical strength to match my tormentors who never worked alone anyway. But things were different now. In a world of magic being smarter than those who picked on you could actually help. Numbers mattered but only if you didn't have help of your own.

Given that I'd been through school once already I knew how to make friends quickly and carve out a place for myself in the social hierarchy. I just needed to find those who would accept me as a leader and win their loyalty.

Which is ridiculously easy when your an adult as you see that children really aren't that bright and that manipulating them is a doodle since most of them are quite swallow although its not their fault. In my opinion that was the secret to parenting and I'd seen it in action enough to do it myself.

I felt a strange absence of guilt when I thought about manipulating children for my own needs the lack of guilt was interesting to say the least. Did this make me some sort of sociopath? Or a psychopath or was that the same thing?.

Then again if I was honest with myself I couldn't recall feeling guilty about anything for a while now. I had no desire to hurt other people (which meant I wasn't psychotic at least) nor did I wish to go around committing crimes. But not doing that sort of thing didn't mean that you felt it was wrong in some moral sense it might just mean that you just didn't want to be punished.

However I had to admit that I was thinking about charming people in order to get them to like me but wasn't that how people made friends? Everyone did things to make other people like them I was just being honest with myself about it.

I tried to think about any ethics I might have. What were the things I wouldn't be willing to do even if I could get away with them?

Yes I could think of a few things that I would never do even if I could get away with it so I hadn't lost all my morals I'd just stopped worrying about doing things I knew I needed to do.

All this intent thinking was starting to give me a headache I could worry about my ethics later for now I should be focused on getting settled into my new life. That could start with making myself a friend so I'd at least have someone to talk to.

The opportunity for this came about quickly. The trolley laden with sweets and other junk passed the door accompanied by the shout of.

"Anything from the trolley"

I was already wearing the school robes and my money pouch was hanging from my belt. I opened it and marvelled at the shiny pieces of metal that were mine. I found it odd that people assign so much value to gold its not even that pleasing to look at its a bit tacky really. The silver coins were more pleasing to the eye.

"Fancy anything Luna?"

The girl bit her lip and I wondered when was the last time she ate. From what I knew of her dad he wasn't the best provider ever. Not a bad person in any way he just very absent minded. I couldn't imagine that Luna had money for treats unless she asked for it.

"Its my treat" I assured "least I can do since you looked after me while during my Wrackspurt infection".

She seemed to examine my words as if seeking out any sarcasm in them but my words had been toned correctly to make it sound as if I actually gave a fuck about her imaginary magical animal friends.

"You decide" she said at least

Like any woman anywhere in the service industry the Trolley Lady had mastered the art of hearing everything without looking like she was paying the slightest bit of attention to any question or request that wasn't directed at her. I'd hung around my school lunch room long enough to know that the women who served the food knew more about what was going on that the rest of the staff combined. I knew that if you ever wanted to know what is really going in a place you asked in the kitchens there like centres of gossip regardless of which gender is working in them.

I purchased a wide selection of the mostly surgery rubbish that was offered up to brats on this train and came to understand why the perfects are chosen before the school year begins. No amount of money would ever convince a teacher to supervise a train full of kids who would either be hyped up on sugar or driven by their hormones.

Right then and there I decided that if I was ever a prefect supervising this journey that I'd purposely injure myself in order to avoid that duty. At least not without a cattle prod a big net.

Sharing out the 'food' I had brought I discovered three very important things. One is that I hate pumpkin pasties and pumpkin juice. Its vile and should be banned. All pumpkins should be burned just so I'd never have to taste their horrid flavour ever again.

Second that chocolate and sweets really do taste better when your a kid. I'd forgotten how good the stuff could be. I ate so much that I should have been sick but somehow my stomach coped with the chocolate and didn't explode from the sheer amount of sugar I consumed.

The third thing was that the Albus Dumbledore on the chocolate frogs card is actually a means for Dumbledore to spy on people. I figured this out when the card I got took one look at me and disappeared. I remembered that Potter gets the same card and for a second I swore I heard the Boy-Who-Lived speaking I threw my card out of the window so that it couldn't be used to spy on me. What sort of creepy old man spies on school kids using cards they collect with chocolate?

After wolfing down so much chocolate I got rather thirsty and sadly for me discovered that I hate butterbeer which left me with nothing to drink until I remembered that I could create water with the spell. It was a simple matter to empty the bottle out the window, fill it with water and the empty it again before refilling it once more for drinking. After rinsing the bottle the taste of butterbeer was faint so I was able to get a drink.

Lovegood stayed quiet the entire time we ate and this created a sort of comfortable silence people who don't know each other very well will rarely experience. Of course it could just be that she'd forgotten that I was here her upside down magazine seemed to be quite the engrossing read.

This silence gave me plenty of time to study the girl who I hoped would be my friend or at least the start of a social group that I could use to my advantage.

She seemed to relatively sane at this point and any oddness she displayed could easily be explained by the traumatic loss of her mother some years back. Aside from that she gave the impression of a harmless girl quite open to making friends. She had the ability to feel affection (which was more than could be said for me right now) and I could use that my advantage later.

How I do that exactly I didn't know right now but there was no need for me worry about that yet I had years of schooling ahead of me and plenty of time to form my social circle that I was already planning to turn into my own group.

What I would do with that group I hadn't quite worked out yet. I felt as if I was planning to start my own Death Eater group but I didn't have any desire to start terrorising the Wizarding World. Not unless it forced me to.

Which given its unfairness and stupidity might actually happen but that wasn't likely to happen for a while for yet and I had other things to worry about such as exams, homework and incompetent teaching staff which weren't things I was looking forward to dealing with.

But I didn't really have any say in the matter until I finished school I was bound by a lot of rules and breaking them would just get my wand snapped or worse thrown in prison assuming I couldn't just bribe my way out.

The door to this compartment opened and a small red headed girl walked in and sat down next to Luna.

"Have you seen Ron?" Ginny asked Luna.

"No I haven't seen Ronald" replied Luna "but don't worry he'll make it to school he won't crash until he hits the angry tree ".

Wait how the hell did she know that? Was she a seer was that what the Traveller meant by her having a gift the share? This was something I would have to investigate given the chance.

The girls sitting across from me started to chat about everything and nothing at the same time in the way only women can. I had no idea what they were talking about so I droned it out so that their talking became background noise.

Knowing that this was going to be a long journey I took out a book and started reading _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguratio_n by Emeric Switch.Accordingto Mr Switch transfiguration was divided into four branches Transformation, Vanishment, Conjuration and Untransfiguration.

Transfiguration seemed quite simple to grasp. You simply changed one thing into another but some of the transfiguration spells seemed useless. For example it was possible to turn a beetle into a button which sounded completely useless to me as the only reason to turn anything into a button would be if you needed a button to replace a missing one. But why beetles why not something easier to find like say a coin or a bottle cap. It really made no sense.

But the match to needle spell did make sense matches are common everyday items that people normally have lying around (even though you can create fire with magic matches are still handy because controlling the amount of fire you make might not be so easy) and if needed a needle for say sowing turning a match into a needle actually seemed like a handy thing to be able to do.

Worse were the spells that turn animals into objects like the spell that mice into snuffboxes. What a cruel thing to do to a defenceless animal. Killing a helpless animal just to create an box your never going to use didn't sit well with me.

While only Transformation spells were covered in this book but it mention the other three main branches of that magical art.

Vanishment the art of causing things to vanish or to make things go into non-being (whatever the hell that meant) wouldn't be taught until O.W.L level according to the book yet the text did actually tell you how it was done. It even told me the spell needed _Evanesco. _

This seemed rather odd because if students weren't meant to learn it until third or fourth year why was the book telling me how to do it now? It seemed very foolish to me as with this spell I could make anything I wished cease to exist. Even done wrongly I could end up killing someone with a single word by vanishing say a major organ in the body or even their entire head.

This Emeric Switch was an idiot there weren't even any warnings in the book telling not to try the spell. It just told me that I needed to focus my intent on the object and use my will.

On the other hand conjuration( the art of conjuring things bringing things into existence the opposite of Vanishment) was filled with warnings and no spells to demonstrate were offered. However it was explained that conjured items didn't last forever and would fade depending on how powerful the caster of the spell was.

Untransfiguration was simply undoing the transfiguration you yourself had done or the work of another. That was more complex than transfiguration because you had to identify what had been transfigured and then what the item had been transfigured into before you could reverse the magic.

After reading some more for a while I started to feel a bit tired (as blacking out doesn't count as restful sleep) I but the book down and decided to take a nap the train ride took up most of the day so I had plenty of time to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sparton2**

**He will be a villain later but that's seven years away at least for this book he's actually doing good err well sort of he saves Ginny at least so that's sort of good. But then being a manipulative asshole doesn't make you evil I suppose it just makes you a jerk. **

**Sorry but I do villains I never understand heroes I'm just not a hero myself never could be. Granted I'm not a mass murdering conqueror either but I understand why people would do those things. Evil interests me because I am a bit of a Sociopath in that I don't feel guilt and remorse so I can get into the head's of bad guys far easier than the good ones. I'm a mentally damaged person due to being bullied and abused as a child I can't help it but I much prefer to express my dark side in stories rather than in real life because I don't want to go to prison.**

**Although I do wonder why your trying to root for the bad guy at all. Shouldn't you be booing him?. **

**Selias **

**I had the time free to write it up so I did. It will take me longer to write more as I have things to do. Hopefully this chapter is as good won't be much action for a while sorry to say. **

**War Sage. **

**Thank you. **

**Your welcome this is partly your story after all as we shaped the plot together. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Two. **

**Ravenclaw Tower. Hogwarts School. Scotland. The Wizarding World. **

I think that the Ravenclaw common room is perhaps the nicest rooms in all of Hogwarts castle. It's a wide circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks and it has a domed ceiling painted with stars. At night its a place that makes you feel like you half outdoors only without having to worry about bugs and getting wet due to rain. The sound of the wind whistling outside is very relaxing while trying to sleep.

During the day us Ravenclaws have an excellent view of the school grounds (well we do once the fog lifts) the view includes the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch, the Herbology gardens and best of all the surrounding mountains. Which dominate the countryside around the school and the all Wizarding village of Hogsmede.

The common room is furnished with tables, chairs and many, many bookcases all of which groan under the weight of the books. By the door leading up to the dormitories stands a tall statue of the greatly admired Rowena Ravenclaw which is made from white marble.

Past the statue is the dormitories one for the girls and one for the boys. In that respect its pretty much like the Gryffindor Tower and like that tower the boys of each year share a room. This is why I spend my time in the common area as living with four other boys is a little like living in zoo exhibit. Which is something I'd rather do as little as humanly possible.

Members of this house are characterised by their wit, learning and wisdom. But in my opinion its really not. I haven't been here long enough to form a proper opinion but so far its seems more like a house of snobs who look down on the other houses with amusement.

The house ghost, who I know is the daughter of the house's founder Rowena Ravenclaw is the House Ghost. I'd bet she has some interesting stories to tell but its unlikely that I'll find out as she spends most of her time floating aimlessly around the castle. But its not a big loss as I already knew her biggest secret.

I've only been here a few weeks and I already more about this school than the rest of my year combined and I'd bet more about magic too. I seemed to be absorbing knowledge and remembering things far better than I use to. No doubt this was one of the improvements that the Traveller mentioned.

Still while I had only been here just a few days shy of a month it was more than enough time for me to get feel from what time here was going to be like. My lessons were going to easy enough. Charms was taught by a patient man (well man-goblin hybrid) who was also our head of house he seemed to take genuine pleasure in teaching and was always there then we needed a helping hand. He also eagerly encouraged us to pursue our own interests as long as it didn't get in the way of school work.

Transfiguration was tough but Minerva McGonagall seemed to have a way of keeping things straightforward and as simple as possible when in class. Which was good because Transfiguration is hard it requires far more skill and focus than Charms. That's not to say Charms is to easy but I find it mostly to be a matter of concentrating your will to a desired end. Transfiguration involves more focus because your reshaping matter and you need to ensure that carefully visualise the process of changing one thing to another. Or at least that is how I handle transfiguration everyone else seems to care about the spell and the wand movements excessively and some cases obsessively.

Herbology taught by Pomana Sprout (who I suspect is in fact part vegetable) is not as easy as I first thought. It seems to be a mixture of gardening and animal taming. Most of the plants seem to have a mind of her own and a few of tried to kill me at some point. I understand now why Care of Magical creatures isn't taught from year one. If the plants are this dangerous then the animals must be horrific monsters.

The subject that confuses me most is Astronomy. I really don't see the point of this subject as it just involves studying the solar system. The study of space is a valid scientific career for scientists or even a good hobby but learning it at school seems rather pointless. The rest of the lessons teach stuff the pupils will need to know as adults but what use will knowing how many moons Saturn has have for an adult wizard.

Defence Against The Dark Arts is my favourite lessons because its so funny. Watching Lockhart prance about re-enacting scenes from his books is comedy gold. The Claws learned fast that Lockhart loves to talk about himself so all one has to do is ask him a question and he will ramble on for the entire lesson. This also allows most of us to get on with our homework which leaves more time for independent study later.

Last of all Potions isn't really a lesson at all. Since its always Claws with the Puffs for potions Snape doesn't play favourites nor does he feel the need to bully anyone or teach anyone for that matter. Instead we get a blackboard full of instructions and an amount of time to complete the work in. Pretty simple but I wouldn't call them classes I'd call them exams. Still at least the Potions Master is just happy to let us get on with it which is no small relief. If he dared treat me like he does the Griffs I'd already be planning my first murder.

Flying had been a total nightmare I could control the broom easily enough but my fear of heights prevented me from getting more than a few meters off the ground. At this rate I'd fail the class and wouldn't be allowed to fly a broom but I didn't really care as flying had no appeal to me. The activity seemed rather pointless given that I'd be able to transport myself with magic or fireplace to simply floo somewhere.

Aside from attending classes I was spending my time in 'independent study' which was mostly involved me reading anything I could get my hands on in order to learn as much about the world I was living as I could. Since this was an alternate version of the world seen in the HP books I had to carefully check out what information I knew with what was written down.

A lot of the information I found was useless for the most part. I didn't need to know which witch or wizard had invented the babbling curse for example but it was a good idea to get an over all sense of the Wizarding World's history.

Mostly I was after knowledge that would be useful should I decide to become the next Dark Lord which wasn't something I currently wanted for myself but the letter from the Traveller had mentioned me having an interesting career. And the Cosmic Horror struck me as the type of being who'd find me becoming a Dark Wizard very interesting to watch assuming that he didn't actually bring it about. If he did I'd just have to deal with it when it happened. Its not as if I could plan that careerer out after all.

Well actually I supposed that I could. I'd have to start recruiting early. I'd already made a start. I was trying to get Longbottom to tutor me in Herbology but he didn't seem to want to socialise outside of his house which struck me as odd as he didn't seem to socialise inside his own house either. The poor guy was very under appreciated. I actual like him, well to be truthful he amused me, so I was considering destroying his wand so he could get one that actually worked for him.

Luna was my only real success so far but it had been ridiculously easy to win her around. A few kind words here and there a bit of support and she was mine. She was my shadow these days she followed me around from class to class never saying much but always there. Aside form when Ginny was around of course no force in the universe can stop those two girls from gossiping.

Ginny wasn't my friend yet but she slowly opening up and would over time become as loyal to me as Luna was. This was helped along by the lack of a soul sucking book and the fact that none of her brothers seemed to have any time for her.

I'd taken and hidden the Horcrux dairy on the first day of classes during Charms.(which we shared with the Griffs unlike the other lessons which were mostly with the Puffs) It was now in the hidden compartment in my chest (because the whole chest was bigger on the inside than the out there was plenty of room for a hidden compartment that could only be opened by my touch) and stored away safely.

The temptation to talk to the book was a strong one and I suspected that there was a compulsion charm upon it. Thankfully it seemed to fade after a while and now it was just curiosity motivating me to start writing. I knew that it would take more than just writing in the book to do any harm I'd have to connect with 'Tom' on a personal level but I knew that once I started writing in it the temptation would get worse as 'Tom' would tempt me with knowledge and power.

So that book was going to stay locked up until I figured out a way to destroy it once I did it would be destroyed along with the diadem.

The problem with that plan was that I had no idea what would actually destroy a Horcrux. Well I did know I just did see how I could use those methods.

The sword of Godric Gryffindor wasn't going to magical appear in a Ravenclaws' hand and even if it did I couldn't get my hands on any Basilisk venom to imbue it with anyway because I couldn't open the Chamber Of Secrets. I'd tried hissing at the snake in Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom but I didn't know the world open in snake language.

As for fiendfyre well I didn't think using it was a good idea unless I could do it somewhere surrounded by water and then it wasn't as if I'd be able to practice the spell. Setting the Room Of Requirement ablaze might work but then I'd lose all the wonderful treasures that were hidden there.

And even I did destroy the two of three soul containers in the school it wouldn't mean much because there were more out there I couldn't get to. Plus even if my some miracle I was able to get rid of the rest of the soul jars I'd have to kill Harry Potter in order to destroy all of them which wasn't a very good idea because even I could bring myself to kill him I'd only get myself killed or thrown in prison for doing it.

The whole thing was so frustrating that I was thinking of just not bothering but I'd already changed events by removing the dairy from Ginny's possession so I couldn't now just act as if it wasn't my problem.

Idly flipping through a book on House Elves (something I needed to know about because of Dobby's antics this year) I tried to focus and not think about what to do about Voldemort but my thoughts kept going back to the subject of Dark Lords.

Well If I couldn't kill mouldyshorts perhaps I could simply prevent his return by stopping Wormtail from rejoining his master. I might not be able to kill the Boy-Who-Lived but I could kill a rat easily enough. No Peter no return of the Dark Lord.

That plan would be easy to execute. Ginny had mentioned the 'pet' and how longed it had lived. All I'd have to do was to ask to buy the rat so I could find out why it had lived so long. Ron Weasley would take gold for the animal in a heartbeat and one accident later it would be over.

But that would mean no scabbers for Sirius Black to see in the paper and therefore he might not escape prison changing next year rather dramatical that would mean that I would have no idea what was going to happen.

Then an idea hit me I could just wait for next year and then expose the rat Scabbers who spent a lot of time in the pocket of Ron Weasley because next year Granger's pet cat would keep trying to kill the dirty rat. There was a spell to force an Animagus back into their Human form if I did the spell during dinner when Lupin was about that would save a lot of trouble later.

Another option was to imprison Riddle myself although how I would disarm, capture and then transport the Dark Lord was a question I couldn't answer. Still I had time to figure that. No need to worry until the World Cup which was two years away at least.

"What are you doing Damien?" asked a female voice.

I looked up over the top of the book I was trying to read and spied Luna who was examining me like I was an art exhibit.

Noticing that she said 'what are you doing?' rather than 'what are you reading' I answered mostly truthfully as she knew when I was lying.

"I'm planning stage one of my four stage plan to world domination" I told the blond.

One of the few good things about being a kid again is that when you say something like that no one takes you seriously. Anyone who overheard would simply assume that I was talking rubbish to Loony Lovegood (as she was already known) who spouted that sort of thing all the time.

Thankfully the bullying hadn't got of hand as I was around Luna a lot and people seemed to like me for some reason despite the fact I wasn't a friendly person. I suspected (but couldn't prove) that I had a power recorded in one of my books called Enhanced Charisma it was a type of magic that made other people see you as charismatic, trustworthy, charming and as someone they should follow. Also it helped you to pick up chicks.

Muggles would call it having a magnetic personality. You just drew people towards you and they liked you. Didn't work on everyone but it worked well enough.

According the book I'd read this power was subtle and so it was hard to measure but it could be amplified by runes sown into the clothing. Which they were in my case on every single bit of clothing I owned only they were hidden on the inside and quite small.

I'd seen these symbols on Dumbledore's clothing (if you could call the fancy dress outfits he wore on a daily bases clothes) he openly walked around with them on in plain sight but because he had Enhanced Charisma everyone just trusted what he said and didn't given his decorations much thought.

But at least that power was easy to defend from if you were aware of it. My Enhanced Charisma could even override Dumbledore's if I worked at it. This was how a mean jerk like Tom Riddle had charmed Slughorn so well and gathered followers. I could do the same here only I wouldn't try teaching them dark magic while still at school.

"No your not" replied Luna after thinking over my answer "you haven't decided if your going take over the world yet".

I'd been trying to figure out what exactly she knew about me from day one. She always knew when I was lying but I could tell a half-truth and get away with it and she always seemed to know what choices I had made before I acted upon them, or at least she did some of the time.

For example last light I'd decided to have slice of chocolate cake rather than my usual sponge and custard or jam roll. She passed me a slice before I'd even reached for one and then offered me milk which I always ate with chocolate cake.

She also had said she knew that I wasn't Damien but hadn't exposed the lie. Something I was very grateful for.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out if the Traveller had made her a sort of Seer (not the Wizard kind as they make prophecies and see portents they don't simply know things) or if this was actually want Luna was like from the start and she'd just gone mad before anyone realised that her talk of Nargles in the brain was really her seeing people's aura's or whatever.

Personally I figured she did see things others couldn't and the Traveller had added to that power before throwing us together. Or she could just be really odd and insightful, and already able to predict me without having enough time to really get to know me.

The only way I could think to test if she actually had the sight was to put her life in danger and to see if she could avoid getting killed which was a bit too extreme. Or I could commit an action very unlike me and see if was surprised by it maybe I could give the next person to call her Loony a slap and see if that shocked Luna.

Then again there were always simpler ways.

"Luna what am I having for dinner tonight?" I asked the young Ravenclaw as she sat down next to me at the table I was sitting.

"Your having cottage pie" she answered.

That did sound nice and now I had to wonder if she fact just guessed what I wanted and would have if available or if they just weren't serving anything else for the main course and Luna had just asked a House Elf what they would be serving.

"And for pudding?" I inquired.

"Jam Tart"

That did sound really good and dinner was less than an hour away. Dinner was served late on Saturdays as was Sunday breakfast because this was the night everyone went to bed late.

Looking up a the common rooms calender I noticed the the first Quddicit match of the year was next week. The Loins verses the Snakes. According to a few of the older students, who often offered advice to us first years like they some sort of wise mentors, the Snakes verses the Loins was the most entertaining match of the year.

Mostly because the two houses hate each other and don't mind expressing this mutual loathing with violence on the pitch. Of course everyone's looking forward to seeing Malfoy and Potter kick the shite out of each other. As am I given the mudblood remark.

There are even bets going. I put money on Potter getting the snitch and winning the match. Given the points that golden ball is worth and Potter's skill the odds are good there so it won't pay out much. So I also made a large bet on Potter being injured again the odds are good so not much pay out as Potter goes to the hospital wing quite often. Still there is no chance of me losing the second bet due to a certain House Elf so I'll make a small profit at least.

Funnily enough there are also other bets on Harry Potter. Like who will snag the boy's heart. I.E first girlfriend. I put down Cho Chang of course which hasn't got good odds but let's face it unless the girl moves school he's going to fall for her because a girl like that will use a mild love potion and a mild one at best.

"How was detention" I asked of my friend.

Luna had zoned out during Transfiguration yesterday afternoon (not a smart thing to do while performing the spell itself) and Minerva 'Merciless' McGonagall hadn't taken kindly to that.

"Not to bad" replied the ditz "I just had to clean the classroom without magic".

To must Purebloods cleaning without magic was a terrible thing to do but to a Muggleborn (err well sort of) like myself its not big deal. Luna had taken care of her dad without using magic so dusting books and picking up bits of paper was no real chore.

"And then I got lectured about paying attention in class"

Hardly surprising news. The deputy headmistress could lecture at an Olympic level.

"Wasn't to harsh I hope" I said to Luna.

"Not really" she replied "I wasn't paying much attention".

I tried not to laugh at that remark but couldn't help it.

"Only you could zone out while being lectured about zoning out" I commented.

The girl leaned over to see what I was reading and then asked.

"Planning to led an army of House Elves on a crusade of liberation against their unfair and cruel Wizard master?"

Now there was an idea. It would certainly be more effective than Granger's idea for SPEW in a couple of years from now. But I didn't think it would work out. House Elves weren't fighters even if they had magic that could throw experienced Death Eaters around with ease.

"No" I replied "Not enough elves".

Sometimes I wondered if she saw right into me and knew how bad my megalomania actually was. Back in my old life it hadn't be a problem as I had been a powerless nobody but now things would be different. I had power and more importantly the will to use it. I could really do some damage if I wished. Thankfully for the Wizarding World I lacked the confidence but that mostly had to be with being a short messy haired brat. Once I was an adult things could change. But there was no need to worry about that I had bigger issues to deal with, like my Charms essay.

Homework is a pain in the ass. For starters why call it homework if I'm doing it while still in school? And the way that they measure essay work drives me up the wall. Inches they ask for so many inches on a subject which makes no sense because people with bigger handwriting end up doing less work as long as they don't make their writing too big.

And the quills and ink bottles I swear they will be the end of me. Its so messy to write like this and I've been told off for getting parchment covered in ink dots. What the hell is wrong with paper and a nice fountain pen? Its not as if the lack of technology around here prevents the use of pens you can buy them by the bucket load in most corner shops.

Sometimes I wonder if its just tradition or if the teachers get some sort of sick pleasure from giving their students cramped wrists and ink stained hands? Actually I'd believe that of Snape at least.

I often wonder what would happen if I brought a typewriter with me next year. There is nothing in the school rules that actually says you must use a quill in class even if it is mandatory to buy them for use at the school. No were in the school rules (of which there are many and strange) does it say you can't use a pen either so I am going to switch as soon as I can buy some.

In frustration I slam the book down and lean back on the chair sensing Luna's concern I give her a warm smile and say.

"I can't seem to focus".

"Your just hungry and tired" she diagnosed like a doctor "you'll feel better after dinner and an early night".

She'd only known me for a few weeks and already she was trying to take care of me. At this rate I'd have to marry her mostly so I'd know what was good for me.

"Yes your right" I replied realising that I was both tired and hungry. Also the work load had been getting to be because I hadn't worked in this sort of environment for a very long time.

"Why don't we go for a walk around the grounds before dinner" suggested Lovegood.

I couldn't see a reason why not so I got my cloak and made my way out of the common room. Without noticing Luna's hand met mine and we walked out of the castle hand in hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reesan**

**Thank you. **

**Guest. **

**The scenes in this story will stay in one location and that was the Ravenclaw common room not the library. **

**Luna is the only Ravenclaw Damien/James knows so who else would he interact with in the Ravenclaw common room? **

**Not romance as such there a little young for that even if they both are a lot mentally older that they look. It was meant to be more a sign of romance that could happen later or a gesture of friendship given there age. **

**Oh and please log in and review as its hard to debate your points if I can't message you. Seems cowardly. **

**WarmasterSamiel **

**Hopefully it will stay good. Your right Self Inserts should do what they want. **

**Tylermech66 **

**Well Snape hates everything so that is a no brainer. **

**(Warning Spoiler Alert) But he's going to be slightly different in this story from cannon due to an event in this chapter. (Warning Spoiler Alert)**

**Worsfold15 **

**Thank you and here is more. **

**Selias**

**More of a settling in piece to give you an idea of what the character thinks and feels about his new life. It also showed that Luna was going to be an on and off again part of the story its a lot about her too. This chapter gets the plot moving.**

**This whole story is a bit like how the HP books are shown in the films. Each chapter is a scene that tells the story but only one part of it. There is no jumping from scene to scene like my other stories. Which I felt was needed in order to cover the ongoing changes and connect different the plots which were often set up well before they led to anything. No scene in my other stories was ever pointless but in this one they are the story so its going to be different. **

**Does that make sense? Its hard to find words to describe how I write. I am a published magazine writer but fiction is very different from writing articles and when I use to write for G&Y I had my work looked over by an editor. **

**Anyway enough of my inane ramblings on with the story. And I really wish I had a Beta reader. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Three. **

**The Quidditch pitch. Hogwarts School. Scotland. The Wizarding World. **

I was starting to enjoy this game, there was something thrilling about watching people speeding around in the air narrowly avoiding gruesome deaths as magical cannonballs flew around trying the knock the players off their brooms. And those were just the beaters. The chasers were insanely fast, blurs of motion as they tried to score while never holding on to the ball for long as they kept passing it in order to confuse any opposing players who were trying to prevent them from scoring.

Watching this sport on a TV screen or even at the cinema just wasn't the same thing as seeing it in real life. There was a sense of danger and excitement when it was live that you just didn't get when you knew that it was going to end a family friendly way.

Still despite my new found enjoyment for the sport no power on Earth would ever get me to actually play the game ,and I couldn't according to the school rules as I'd failed flying class anyway, but as a spectator sport it was it was an intense thing to watch. I imagined that this was how the Romans must of felt when watching gladiators fight to the death or in modern terms it was much like seeing racing car driver avoiding a high speed crash.

Part of me wanted to see someone get hurt and I think everyone around me did as well. They, well we, were a bloodthirsty lot if they wanted to see schoolchildren get horribly maimed or killed during a sporting event.

If the sequence of events for this year stayed on track we'd get our wish as Potter should break something due to the rogue bludger Doddy the House Elf messes with. Although I did have to wonder if Lockhart would mess up the spell again if he didn't Potter wouldn't go to the hospital wing.

Of course given my presence here events might change quite a bit. I didn't think anything I'd done would matter during this match but given that I had prevented the Chamber from being opened that meant that every other match would be different and the cup would be handed out this year as the season wouldn't get cancelled.

Now that I thought about the message on the wall declaring that the Chamber had been opened was suppose to of happened before this match but it wasn't Halloween yet which was when Nearly Headless Nick's Death Day party was suppose to take place. Events weren't in the right order this match shouldn't be happening yet, but it was.

Given this I was a little worried about future events. I couldn't be sure that things would happen as I knew they should. Without that knowledge I could end up in danger myself which was something I wanted to avoid.

Broom flying teens whisked pass my head and I flinched for a second before standing up to get a better view. I wanted to keep an eye of Potter in case he got injured before he won the match. The young hero had to get the snitch or I was going to lose some money.

I turned and noticed that Luna hadn't moved at all despite the near miss. It hadn't seemed to have even registered with her. This was either further evidence that she could foresee the future or that she was starting to retreat more and more into a world of her own making. I hoped that the former was the case as it would be nice to have a friend who noticed my existence during the present.

Luna wasn't my own friend now but Ginny was off her brother Ron supporting the Lions and Longbottom still hadn't really warmed up to me even if we did hang out a bit. My association with Lovegood was damaging my social standing somewhat in my own House but it might all be worth it if Luna turned out be a real Seer.

Turning to the closet thing I had for a best friend I asked her something.

"So whose gonna win?" I asked shouting over the crowd.

I wanted to know if her prediction matched my own but rather than support me Luna frowned as she answered.

"No one is going to win today. You wasted your money".

Shit all that money I had bet! The only way I could fail is if Potter didn't get hurt and also didn't get the snitch. If the Snakes won I'd be down about about twenty pounds in Muggle money which is worth lot more in the 1990's given that you can get a decent sized bag of sweets for 50p.

This is something that is very important when your eleven years old and can enjoy great amounts of sugary junk without fear of stomach ache and vomiting. It was the only part about being a kid again that I was actually enjoying aside from the fact that I was getting decent amounts of sleep given didn't suffer from insomnia before hitting puberty and that seemed to be the case again.

Thinking about her no one will win today remark suggested that the game would end as a draw which was possible if the team that didn't catch that silly golden ball was exactly one hundred and fifty points ahead of the other team. It wasn't likely to happen but it could and Luna was if not a real Seer at least very good at predicting things.

The cheering of the crowd suddenly stopped cheering and for a moment I wondered if something bad had happened but looking around I realised that time had stopped. It was a freaky to see it was like someone had hit the universes' pause button.

Looking around I noticed that a strangely dressed man who was not only wasn't frozen he was typing something on what looked to be a Kindle which not only shouldn't work at this school but also they hadn't been invented yet.

At once I suspected that it was the Traveller but that wasn't the case as the man dressed in work clothes was surprised to see me moving and at once came over to talk to me.

"Hey why aren't you frozen kid?" he asked.

Clearly he wasn't the Traveller as that creature knew who I was.

"Who are you anyway?".

Rather than wait for an answer the man checked his hand held computer.

"Nothing in here about any of you Wizard types being immune to..."

He stopped and took out a phone which looked like something that shouldn't be around until at least twenty-ten and started texting someone.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man looked me over then he took a hat of some sort out of his pocked which had clear plastic visor on it. He then looked at me rather intently something that I found it rather off-putting.

"You don't belong here" muttered the strange man who looked something up on his Kindle like machine "says here that your suppose to be dead. How the 'ell am I meant to sort this out. The time lines messed up and events are getting mixed up and dead people are alive. I swear no one thinks about the repercussions when they do these displacements".

I got the impression that I was the source of the problem that concerned this gentlemen and that somehow my presence here was not just altering events but somehow moving them around. Well it hadn't been me per say but the Traveller however my actions would of made things worse.

"Its not my fault" I protested "I didn't ask to be sent here".

Which was true. I might of picked this place but I'd not really asked for anything I'd just been told to pick a card.

The man ignored me as most people do ignore children when they are doing something important. So I tried to look at what he was typing. It was some sort of maths but way beyond me it looked like something Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking might be able to understand but I didn't have a clue.

Given that I didn't have a chance of figuring out what he was doing I instead studied the man before me. He was dressed in a jump suit made from some sort of red coloured material that was artificial like polyester. His technology wouldn't look too out of place in twenty thirteen. Although I'd never seen anyone use a mobile phone and Kindle at the speed he could he was typing very fast but didn't make any mistakes as far as I could tell.

"So who displaced you?" asked the oddly dressed man once he was finished typing.

"A being called the Traveller" I explained seeing no reason to lie "I freed him and this is his idea of a reward".

Not for the first time I wondered if the Cosmic Horror that had sent me here actually knew what the word reward meant. It didn't make me and a bunch of other version of me into your play things for whatever sick pleasure the being got out of all this.

The man in the overalls typed the name I'd given into the Kindle like machine and then read the information that appeared. He suddenly went pale and became very nervous. He looked around and noticed that someone else was moving when they shouldn't be.

"Ah shite!" he swore.

The workman from the future (I guessed based on what I had observed) took one last look at me apologised and then ran away disappearing from view seconds later. This naturally made me feel very confused. Even more so when time restarted and then stopped again.

When I noticed the moving figure was still heading my way I went from confused, to nervous, to frightened very quickly and then for some reason I closed my eyes.

"Its just me" assured a familiar voice.

Opening my eyes I saw the Traveller who looked just as he did when we went for drinks. Which meant he looked liked I did when I was older only a bit alien looking as if his inhumanity made it impossible for him to look like a real person.

"Sorry about that I messed up your reward" explained the thing wearing my face "I'm a bit out of practice and time agency of this reality discovered that the source of the displacement was here".

My confused look made it unnecessary for me to ask for the meaning of the term displacement. It was simply explained to me.

"Displacement is the term used by the time agency to define an object or person that has been moved out of its proper place and time. Such things are displaced. In this universe you died as a baby due to a bad cause of Whooping Cough and as such shouldn't be living a life on this world".

I remembered my Mum mentioning that I'd gotten sick after being born but I'd never known my life had been a risk.

"You must of noticed that events aren't in the right order"

Nodding my head I said.

"Yeah this match is suppose to be after Halloween not before. But I couldn't of caused that even if I did prevent the Chamber from being opened".

I could see how my actions would change events greatly following Halloween but I couldn't imagine how anything I'd done or not done would change the match schedules. I had thought that a few things might be different due to this being an alternate version of JK Rowlings world of fiction but it seemed as if something else was behind the changes.

"You didn't" replied the Traveller who was for some reason licking a figure and then holding it up the air "I caused this, your alterations couldn't make something like that happen the Butterfly Effect doesn't work that way".

I assumed he meant the Butterfly Effect as it works in fiction (which this world was in a way so it might apply here) rather than the correct scientific version used as part of chaos theory.

In fiction when someone whose travelled back in time changes one event which at that point might seem rather unimportant but upon returning to the future they will find their present drastically changed all because of one minor event had been changed.

This is because that one tiny change in the past causes more changes later on. Then those changes alter more events which led to bigger changes later. This goes on until the 'present day' world is almost nothing like it should be.

This effect can be seen in real life do. While rushing to work a person might spill some of their drink while rushing out of the coffee shop making the floor wet. The next customer entering the store slips on the wet surface falls over and hurts themselves.

Now that person might be a doctor who was needed to perform an important surgery later in the day. Now because the doctor is injured that person needing the surgery will die effecting the lives of an entire family all because the person rushing to work spilt some coffee.

But what f that person rushing to work had been more careful and he hadn't spilt his morning coffee. No spill meant nothing for the doctor to slip on. She then can perform a life saving operation which means no grieving family.

These two significantly different outcomes depended on an earlier minor event that to the one spilling the coffee would seem to be not the least bit important.

The smallest action can have far reaching consequences and I would see the Butterfly Effect in action. Because by stealing a certain book from Ginny I'd prevented the Chamber from being opened. Which meant that no students would be turned to stone.

Which for now seemed like a good thing but there could be negative consequences later due to my actions. Such as Harry Potter never getting the sword he needs to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxs. He might not get the sword because now Ginny will never face death at the hands of ghost Tom Riddle. Harry will now not have to slay the Basilisk true but the sword will not appear and without that sword the events of the Death Hallows book will be very different. Voldemort might not be defeated at all. Sure the sword should present itself if needed but since it would never come in contact with Basilisk venom it wouldn't be able to destroy a Horcrux.

However if things did turn out for the worse it wouldn't really be my fault. It would be impossible for me not to alter events because I would by simply existing in this world. In fact if I tried not to anything even changing at all given the universes' sense or irony things likely would turn out far worse than I could imagine.

"I'll have it sorted out in a few moments" promised the Traveller "This match will be happening after Halloween and I'll cover up your displacement so you won't get bothered by the agency again. And I won't be making this mistake with the other versions of you I am having fun with".

It amazed me that this being was somehow altering a time line without even making any noticeable effect. Still given that he had to change to course of events that did mean that while he might be very, very powerful he wasn't all knowing otherwise this mistake never would of happened.

I knew that my benefactor couldn't be all powerful because if he was he never would of ended up being imprisoned by 'The Scale' in the first place and also given that this 'The Scale' was a single entity and a not a group it could mean that the Traveller wasn't that powerful at all.

Not that this really mattered to me as I was still so far beneath him that I might as well be a monkey he watched for amusement when visiting the zoo but it was good to know that I wasn't the plaything of a being that was without limits.

Then remembering that the Traveller could read minds or at least my mind so I stopped that trail of thought and shifted to a new topic.

"So what would that time agency have done to me if you hadn't come along" I asked.

I thought it would be a good idea to find this out just in case they came back again. The Traveller said that they wouldn't be I wasn't going to take his word on it.

Hopefully the Traveller was right and they would come back because I doubted that my wand magic would protect me from that agency because their technology and personal seemed to work fine in a place they shouldn't. Unless the workman had been a Wizard he should of even been able see the place never mind investigate it.

"Well they would of taken you home if they could" the creature I'd freed explained "or failing that simply removed you from existence. Then they would attempt to get things back on track which wouldn't be easy given the damage".

I didn't want to be removed from existence as that sounded like rather a nasty fate and going home in my current state would not be a good thing. There'd be no way that I could survive on my own at age eleven and how could my family accept the fact that I'd de-aged by so many years. Given most people's obsessions about looking younger I'd likely ended up being hounded as everyone would want to now how I'd reversed my own ageing.

"Almost done" declared the thing disguised as myself "no one but you will notice any difference and the time line should be back in order again. Hopefully I didn't make this mistake with the other world's I'm messing with".

"What will I notice" I asked wondering what it would be like to experience events being moved in time rather than just changed.

"You'll suddenly find yourself a couple of weeks into the future. No big deal just the dates on the calender will change and you'll have skipped a fortnight".

Skipping forward a couple of weeks did seem like a big deal to me but I suppose I would adapt easily enough. Like I had adapted to being transported to what should just a fictional setting.

"I best be off" said the Traveller "everything should be in order now. Your partly outside the stream of time now so remember at the end of the next school year don't use the time tuner".

It took me a moment to process that piece of advice but before the god-like being could vanish like everyone else visiting the school today I was able to ask.

"Why what would happen".

The Traveller seemed to need a moment to come up with an answer perhaps there simply weren't words in English to describe what would happen, that he was still focusing parts of his attention elsewhere.

"Well nothing. You partly exist out of time because of the what the agency did so a time turner wouldn't work for you. You shouldn't use one because then everyone will know that something is different about you. And if you used one with someone else they would go back and you wouldn't. That would very suspicious".

I was expecting him to say something on the likes that I would explode or be sent to the future or some other whackyness but no I'd end up having absolutely nothing happen to me at all. I was somehow disappointed and relived at the same time which is was an odd thing to feel.

The sky then started to grow brighter and the wind became calmer which was odd because the wind had stopped with everything else.

"I have time to answer one more question" prompted the being.

There were a lot of things I wanted to ask but it was hard to pick just one thing so I asked for some advice.

"Any advice to offer me?"

"Start learning some combat spell your going to need them" was all he advised

Before I could protest this lack of information the Traveller was saying.

"It is done"

The Traveller then vanished leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions and time had returned to its normal flow. No one but me had moved at all and no one, not even Luna, seemed to have noticed that for a while the entire world (or at least the parts of it I could see) had stopped moving.

Nor did they notice that the weather had changed or that the sun was lower in the sky that it should be and that it had gotten colder.

As another goal was scored my attention went back to the pitch and I stopped thinking about the oddness of what had just happened as there was fresh oddness to observe.

The bludger had started to act up which meant events were happing as they should do. I checked my watch (which worked here since it was clockwork not digital) and noticed that the hour had changed as well it was getting late and it seemed as if I'd skipped some of this match as well.

I put that out of my mind and watched Malfoy and Potter go after the game ending ball which was so many points that the really I didn't see why any of the Chasers actually bothered to try and score. The crowd was on the edge of their seats (well the ones who were still sitting down were) and we saw Potter and Malfoy both go for the snitch.

The bludger went right for the two Seekers and hit one of them with more speed than the heavy balls should be capable of moving at.

Then it happened the bludger hit Potter knocking him off his broom as it suddenly changed direction but not before the young hero had grabbed the golden ball both ending and winning the game. Dumbledore was able to save The-Boy-Who-Lived but he'd been unable to save the bludger's first victim

The whole thing had happened so fast that I didn't realise anything had gone wrong until some of the girls started screaming. I'd been so focused on Potter that I hadn't seen what happened to Malfoy. The reason why the bludger had suddenly changed direction was it had hit Draco Malfoy.

He'd not fallen off his broom but the blow to his head had knocked him off course and made him impact the ground so hard there was trail of torn up grass and dirt marking his bad landing. He'd crashed to the ground still holding on to his broom even.

The crash hadn't be the problem that problem was that his neck had been snapped. The impact with the rogue bludger must of broken it. He was dead.

As half the crowd cheered Potter for avoiding death the other half was screaming and shouting out in Lions hadn't noticed Malfoy's death as they were to focused on Potter's win as were all of the guests and some of the staff.

From my elevated position I could see a few staff members around the boy's body but they couldn't help him. As tough as wand magic users are a broken neck isn't something they survive. He was really dead and soon everyone would realise it.

I could only wonder what would happen now and if this was in anyway my fault. Had I saved a few kids from being petrified only to cause a death? Or was this just bad luck? Was I to blame?

"No one is going to win today. You wasted your money" repeated Luna "you bet on the right things its just that you won't get your winnings. You won't want them and you'll never bet again".

She was right about that. No one had won anything here today.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lord Eric **

**I thought that a shock death would work nicely at that point. Plus having re-watched the scene on my Xbox360 I figured that it could of actually happen Dobby's bludger so nearly killed both of them this time it did. **

**Tylermech66**

**Good thing neither of us went to Starfleet Academy. After one Temporal Mechanics lesson I'd have to end being treated for a stroke. **

**Basilisk skin armour (which would be Basilisk leather armour not skin) sounds good on paper but he'd have to kill the basilisk, which would be tricky to say the least, then he'd have to skin the beast which if its skin is tough enough to resist magic would mean skinning by hand. Also he'd have to make the armour which he doesn't know how. And all this would require to get into the chamber in the first place which he can't. And unless the Basilisk leather armour is Killing Curse Proof its just not worth the effort. Even if it was then he wouldn't be able to kill the beast anyway. Its just to risky. **

**WarmasterSamiel **

**Accept for the fact that Draco was a lousy Death Eater whose actions actually aided Harry's defeat of Voldemort. Draco was the owner of the Elder Wand and he tried to cover for him when Harry got dragged off to Malfoy Manor. **

**Lucius Malfoy, is the only one who can use his son's death to his advantage and he will. Gothic does as well in a roundabout sort of way in this chapter but not on purpose. **

**Worsfold15**

**Thank you and yes poor Draco killed by your own House Elf. **

**Warsage**

**Thanks.**

**douchiesnacks **

**Yeah poor Draco you be missed... nah not really LOL.**

**Selias **

**You will find out in this chapter how Draco's death effects things. I don't think Dumbledore being exiled will be permanent he's got his own allies and resources. Remember the reason Malfoy Senior used the diary was because he wanted to get at Arthur Weasley and I think there was something about a law being passed. **

***Quickly looks it up and thanks god for google* **

**Lucius Malfoy, planted the diary on Ginny to discredit Arthur Weasley who pushing for a law to be passed meant to allow Arthur to search homes for harmful (dark) artefacts to help unsure that they are used in Muggle Baiting which I assume to be the name given to giving muggles magic things that would prank or hurt them. If the law passes Lucius Malfoy is in trouble. I assume Dumbledore supports this law so that is why Malfoy Senior gets him kicked. Now Lucius Malfoy can use his son's death to make sure that law get passed. **

**Anyway that is the effect on the overall story the more immediate effects will be seen in this chapter. And I'm going to stop now before I start lecturing. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Four. **

**The Room Of Requirement. Hogwarts Castle. Scotland. **

My spell hit the practice dummy and sent it flying across the room which brought a smile to my face. It had not taken me long to master that spell which was good as I was going to need it soon given how bad things had gotten around here. More than a few things had changed at the school since Draco Malfoy had died. The Quidditch season had been cancelled. Potions lessons were worse than ever. Morale was low and tensions between the school houses were higher than ever.

Losing Quidditch had been a big blow to the school. I'd not realised how many students seemed to dedicate their lives towards that sport. I found rather sad as it was after all just a sport it wasn't worth someone dying over which could happen again given how dangerous the matches tended to be here.

Potion lessons were a nightmare now. Snape had stopped taking house points and was now handing out detentions like they were going out of style. He didn't supervise any of the detentions himself in fact he seemed to be avoiding the students whenever possible but we all felt as if it was only a matter of time before Snape snapped and attacked someone. I'd not realised how much the teacher actually cared for the albino ferret.

Worse that all that was the fact that Dumbledore was gone. He'd not been fired he was just suspended pending investigation, whatever that meant, but it didn't look as if he'd be coming back any time soon. This suspension was a lot sooner than in the original time and added with a student's death it meant things were actually worse than if I hadn't come to this world at all. In my attempts to make things better I'd managed to make things worse.

Without the meddling old fool around the mood in the castle got worse. Bullying was getting to the point were the Snakes were lashing out at anyone not wearing green and silver simply to have someone to blame for losing one of their own. Snape wasn't keeping them in line any more and the Deputy Headmistress was too busy to deal with it because she was running the entire school while still teaching classes.

So I was very glad that I had taken the Traveller's advice and learned some combat spells. If I hadn't I'd been the hospital wing by now. Luna had actually been cursed because, aside from myself, no one was willing to stand up for her. That had pissed me off no end I hate bullies and the entire house of serpents were turning into bullies worse than anything I had ever known. Hardly surprising given that most of them were the children of Death Eaters, they all knew at least a little dark magic. The only plus about Draco dying was that there would be one less Death Eater in the future but that wasn't much a pro when compared to the cons.

The only thing I could do about it was to learn a few dark spells of my own so I could fight back. Nothing lethal of course as the Snakes weren't trying to kill anyone but I wanted to be able to strike back at them should they attack one of my friends again.

Behind me the door into the Room of Requirement opened and I turned my eye towards the door as Luna entered the room. I sighed in relief as I saw how well she looked. The nurse had done a good job of making Luna's teeth the right length again and the noise was fixed as well. Luna had taken a total of three spells to the face and the only one that was still in effect was the colour changing curse which had thankfully only struck her hair turning in purple rather than making her face permanently that colour. Compared to what could of happened she'd gotten off light must of only been first or second years who attacked her.

Following Luna into the room were Neville Longbottom and Ginny Wesley like Luna they were outcasts who went unnoticed by their own houses for the most part and such were often victims of attack. This was why both Luna and I spent so much time in this room it was a good hiding place and it had an exit out of the castle or could at least make one.

The Room of Requirement was meant to be a hideaway for Luna and me but she was soft-hearted so it was no surprise that she had led others here.

"Neville, Ginny. What brings you here?" I asked pretending that I didn't know.

"Luna told us you were learning spells in here" explained Ginny

"We want to learn too" added Neville

I was rather surprised by that. I'd assumed they just wanted to use the room as a hiding place. Neither of them were very brave but given what school house they were in I shouldn't be surprised that they had the courage to do something like this.

"It will be like a study group" declared Luna with cheer in her voice "like in the library only with friends".

"And no bossy Granger" said Neville.

Ah yes Granger the homework queen. Her reputation for controlling how homework was done had spread beyond her house until most people avoided her in the library like she radioactive in some way. I'd not yet spoken to her but one of these days I was going to call her out on being an interfering know it all. Either than or I'd end up asking her out as smart girls are hot, as long as they aren't also mean, but that was years away for now as my biology still had me convinced that girls were silly things that giggled a lot and changed clothes too often. Mentally I knew better but it takes times for hormones to do their work.

Taking the time to look the three of them over I thought about what they wanted. I knew that while they said they just wanted a study group what they really wanted was protection. Mostly the protection that this room offered but partly from me as well. I had successful defended myself after all sometime none of them could do due lack of experience or Longbottom's case a wand that didn't suit him (which was something I intended to deal with before the end of term) which along with his lack of confidence was holding him back.

I had to consider the fact that it might be these three people who would become my first Death Eaters one day. As despite having only spent a few weeks living in this world I was already dreaming about taking it down so it could be rebuilt into something better.

The prejudice, the bullying, the sheer incompetence of its government whose sole response to a dead student was to reduce the staff at the school leaving it even more undermanned than ever before. All of these things angered me. Granted I didn't intended to do anything about it for a long time to come but I knew that even now I might be planting the seeds of a rebellion this very day.

But would that be such a bad thing? In the years to come someone like me might be needed to led people like Longbottom. Lovegood and Weasley. I wasn't willing to put my faith the like of Dumbledore who couldn't even keep order a school never mind an entire nation.

For a moment I decided that I wouldn't be the one to do anything. It wasn't my business and I didn't have all the facts. I wasn't worthy of judging a race of people. I couldn't be the one to change a world I didn't really understand. I just needed to get through my schooling and then I could disappear into the muggle world.

But then I looked the three of them in the eyes. They were scared, who wouldn't be given what was going on, but they looked at me with hope as if I could make things better. I tried to break eye contact and I tried to ignore their feelings but I couldn't. I might be a bastard but I was no monster. I just couldn't just stand here and do nothing while people I knew were suffering. This was the fault of that damned enhanced charisma working against me it made people think I could be a leader. Potter had it in spades but he wasn't very assertive he'd never go looking for followers and he had trouble making friends. I on the other hand knew how to manipulate people I was no expert at it but I knew enough.

"Fine" I said at last giving in"we can study together".

The mood in the room lifted at once as if that one sentence had been a spell that made everything better. Well not for me it hadn't I had now felt as if I'd taken a large weight on my shoulders. Carrying the hopes and dreams of others was a big responsibility even if they were the simple hopes and dreams children had.

There were plenty of chairs to sit upon as the Room of Requirement had provided everything I wanted for a hideaway. Half the room was for practice the other half was for theory so that met there were plenty of books on the study side of the room.

From what I understood the room provided what it could based on what had been dumped in it over the years which given that the room was up to a thousand years old was a lot of junk. This was why it didn't provide food because any food left in here would of rotted away long ago.

I'd worked out how to use it rather easily as it was meant to be used by the students. Of course I don't think the room was ever intended to be used by me because I can't see the Founders ever creating a room to help a student get rich.

One of the first things I'd asked for was for money stating the need for wealth. I'd entered the room to find a small box full of coins, both muggle and wizard currency, some of which hadn't been circulation for hundreds of years. But this meant they were worth more not less as some of these coins could be sold to collectors for far more than the coins were actually worth at the time they were minted. There had been no paper money for some reason maybe the room just didn't know paper could be used as money but the coins were a small fortune that had been given to me freely.

The chest the money came in was much bigger on the inside and enchanted to be easy to carry. So I'd been able to get it to my school trunk were it would stay until I became an adult, again.

Since I'd known how to work the room before even entering it I had been able to make a rather good clubhouse (as I now thought of it) and it would serve my group well.

"We should have a name" said Ginny after picking a book on curses "a secret name for this group".

Ginny's suggestion broke my trail of thought, which was a good thing as I could sit thinking for hours about complete crap if not stopped, and upon hearing what she said I felt a little sick. It was as if fate was pushing me into becoming a Dark Lord next she be suggesting that make up our own mark that we could later get tattooed onto our skins.

"Oh yes" agreed Luna "we need a good name and a symbol to. Something that will show everyone that were a group".

Another limit of the room was that it didn't provide strong drink despite the fact that a certain professor kept her stash of booze her. I guessed it was safety feature of the room and right now I hated it as I'd gladly drink even Butterbear right now.

"If were going to be a group which stands up to all the bullies then we will need more members" added Neville.

"And a leader too" put in Ginny who then looked at me with hopeful eyes "someone who can make sure we learn what we need to learn".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They were practically throwing everything I needed to be the next Voldemort at my feet! The only way they could do better would be if they were wearing all black while calling me lord and bowing at my feet. Which thinking about it would be a bit silly at their age. The girls would need a few years more of growing up before that became fun and a guy doing it would just be weird.

But judging by the looks the three of them were giving me they were going to be at least obeying me from now on, unless I said no but then what would they do? I kind of like having friends if only because I'd never been popular before it was kind of nice to be respected and looked up to. My ego seemed to be driving me to accepting leadership of this group and to led the fight on the Slytherin bullies.

"Fine I'll be the leader, but don't start calling me master or my lord"

The three of them looked a little confused at this and Luna said.

"I think I'll wait till I'm older before I start calling you that"

Given that anything Luna said which made any sense, and that statement did at least to me, often came to pass I started to imagine that one day she would indeed start saying stuff like that, only we'd be in bed together not plotting world domination.

"I'll stick with Damien" insisted Ginny who seemed to understand that Luna was referring to something adults got up to even if she didn't actually understand what it was adults got up to.

"Can you even teach us?" asked Neville who being the oldest the room was the more logical choice but he lacked the confidence to led but he had enough to question my qualifications.

To answer this question I got up, lifted my wand into the air and said

"_expecto patronum"_

A brilliant silver fox appeared and ran through the air before fading away into mist which became nothing as I couldn't hold the spell for long. I'd practised that spell before today quite often because of the Dementors that might arrive at the school next year. I'd wanted to be prepared and it had paid off earlier than I'd expected because the three students in the room were very impressed.

"That answer your question, Nev" I said in cocky tone of voice.

"Was that a patronus?" inquired Ginny "isn't that a NEWT level spell. How can you do that you don't always do that well in class?".

I cut in before she started asking to many questions.

"Yes it was a patronus, yes its Newt level and my dad taught me a few things before he died. But he didn't teach me too much otherwise what would be the point of going to school. That's why I have to learn some spells before doing them".

They seemed to accept that lie but the truth was that really I didn't know that many spells at all it was just that the spells I did know were the ones shown in the films and the book so I knew them well. I could stun someone easily and shield myself as well but that wasn't enough to deal with the dark arts users as they could break shields with dark spells and wake up knocked out members of their groups. I was learning more dangerous spells that required time to reverse just so I could keep an enemy down long enough to matter in a fight.

My lack of spell knowledge hadn't been that much of a problem as this was my first year of schooling but now that I was asked to led a small group of students it might cause problems. By showing off with the patronus I'd basically set myself a high standard of spell work now and my 'followers' would expect to see more perform equally as impressive spells.

At least teaching them wouldn't be to hard. Aside from Neville my new study group had only been really learning magic for a matter of weeks so it wouldn't be difficult to give them something to learn.

"Okay so do any of you guys know the stunning spell?" I asked.

They all shook their heads and I decided that learning to knock people out wasn't a bad place to start with the lessons. Disarming was important as well although it was easy to disarm someone if you knocked them out they then they couldn't just recover their wand. That made me realise that simply disarming or stunning someone wasn't enough.

Killing one of the bullies was too much as they were just angry and confused kids after all even they were mean ones but perhaps I could destroy their wands. There was nothing stopping the wizard or witch from going out and buying a new one but that took time. Nor could someone working with the bad guy simply wake up the stunned person to get them back into fight because awake or not they were still unarmed. Plus there was that whole thing about the wand choosing its user, a new wand would never be as effective as the one meant for them.

"Okay lets start with learning stunners" I said to the group.

After setting up the practice dummies I showed the other three people in the room how to stun someone. The spell was pretty easy but I had them practice it for a while in order to ensure that they got use to the spell.

"Right" I said after a while "its not going to be enough to just cast the stunner at a dummy you have to be willing to stun a person, so your going to try stunning me".

None of them moved and I couldn't help but sigh.

"Stun me or I will stun you".

I raised my wand, in order to prove I was telling the truth about stunning one of them' only the have Ginny send a stunner my way however I was given enough warning by her rather loud shout to react. With virtually no effort I shielded myself and then sent a stunner at her which she tried to dodge but couldn't so she went down.

Neville made angry by my 'attack' send something that wasn't a stunner at me but it was also easy to block and he was no better at defending himself than Ginny was.

It seemed that Lockhart's duelling club really was needed after all but since it wasn't going to happen now I'd have to do the teaching. The idea of me ever teaching at Hogwarts so amusing to think about that I didn't notice Luna's attack until she shouted the spell and then I blacked out for a while.

When I awoke sometime later only Luna was with me and she looked concerned.

"Oh good your up" she said her face breaking into a smile "I didn't mean to knock you out like that. Nev and Gin have just gone back to their common room. I think you scared them a bit, because when you started to wake up they left in a hurry".

"Hopefully they learned something" I said softly.

"You might have to let them know that your not going to stun them again before you arrange another class. Your teaching method is a bit extreme".

I sat up and coughed.

"Yeah well if they learn to protect themselves it will be worth it".

"Brutal but necessary" agreed Luna.

I could stand up but I was still a little shaky on my feet so I went and sat down on one of the chairs the room had provided.

"That was one hell of stunner" I told Luna "when did you learn to do that?".

"When it was my turn to get stunned by you" she answered "I was very motivated... would you like to stay at my house this Christmas?".

I almost didn't hear her ask given the sudden change in topic and how quietly she had asked the question.

"Sorry, what" I said.

Luna took a deep breathe and said with some nervousness

"I just noticed that you signed up to stay here at the castle for the holidays. So I thought that instead of staying here alone you could come to my house with my current Daddy".

Current Daddy? What was she planning to do get a new one? Knowing my luck it would be me but I wouldn't have to worry about that for a while, hopefully at least five years although it might be less depending on what the age of consent was in the Wizarding World.

"Sure" I said figuring I had nothing to lose and I could really do with a break away from this castle "but we'll have to do some Christmas shopping since I didn't get your Dad anything".

As a man I made that sound as if having to do more Christmas shopping was fate equal to having to go see the dentist. But really nothing about Christmas thrilled me and I was quite confused about why they celebrated Christmas in the Wizarding World. None of the older kids knew why and a few of them had just given me a blank look when I mentioned Jesus. But given that Xmas was based on a Pagan winter festival I figured that the Wizards likely just celebrated Xmas as a continuation of that ancient tradition.

Picking up an empty cup I used a charm to fill it with water and drank it down as my mouth was getting rather dry.

"Daddy and I normally go the the Diggory's house at Christmas. I'll ask Cedric if its okay for me to bring a guest".

Cedric was due to die in a couple of years, which was a shame because he was by all reports a nice bloke. Might as well get to know him since he might not be around in the long run.

"That sounds like fun" I commented idly.

Even if this party was the most boring party in this history of boring parties it would be better than hanging around here. A week off was something I really needed right now.

"We don't have a spare bedroom so you and I will have to share a bed. I'll try to remember not to go to bed nude".

Say what now!


	5. Chapter 5

**Lord Edric**

**I don't agree. Luna is young enough at this point in her life to be molded into someone who would support a cause she would see as right even if that involves doing bad things. It depends on who she looks to as a role model. Remember the scene in Deathly Hollows when we see Luna's bedroom it shows her friends those she looks up to and tries to emulate. Now replace those friends with Gothic and she could grow into a very different person. You'll see that soon. **

** Of she could also be the reason Gothic goes evil if something were to happen to her he'd be very, very upset. **

**Selias**

**Give it a few years and I'm sure they will have a very special Christmas. This one will memorable for different reasons. **

**I'll be working on this story for a while as I'm having problems with Gothic Effect. I realised that with what Gothic knows taking out the Collector base will be easy but I want the story to last longer. So I have to justify Gothic not simply grabbing the IFF from the dead Reaper and then going for the Omega Four relay. I suppose the Collector Swarms are a good justification as he'd need Mordin to counter the Swarms but that doesn't require Gothic to wait that long. Ah well I'm sure I'll figure something out. **

**War Sage**

**I will thank you. Although it would help if you told me why it was great so I know what I am doing right. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Five. **

**The Rookery, Ottery St. Catchpole. The Wizarding World. **

I'd seen the Rookery while watching the Deathly Hallows film but it hadn't been done justice on the cinema screen. For starters it was a lot bigger in real life (or it could be that I was a lot smaller these days) and it was bloody noisy too but I loved it. Unlike the castle this place felt safe, it seemed like a home rather than just a place people lived in.

It was also been great because Luna's Dad was so laid back. I suspected that he was actually stoned in some way but I had no idea if Wizards had weed and he didn't smell of it. Mostly he put me in mind of an ageing liberal hippy who had never sold out and he'd passed that onto Luna, she was free as well. Neither of them seemed to worry about fitting in that much they were very much themselves rather than what people thought they should be. I was thankful for this as it was nice to see real people again.

I was also thankful that Luna wasn't a nudist (or perhaps she was and she just wasn't living that perfectly valid lifestyle choice right now for my sakes) she wasn't running around naked. It wouldn't of bothered me that much to be honest as I felt no sexual attraction towards her. In a few years this could end up being if not a problem then at least a concern but for now I didn't let the idea that she'd quite happily be naked with me in her bed bother me.

Well the bed part had bothered me a little because I'd had the expected wet dreams already and while the House Elves change the sheets at school there was no Elf here (or at least I hadn't seen one) so I had been a little worried that I might stain the sheets but it didn't happen. I'd worried over nothing in the end. And I had my own Elf now anyway.

In any case I was more focused on the fact for the first time in over two months I was actually able to do what I wanted. It was casual in the Rookery. I ate when I wanted to rather than at set meal times and I went to bed I wanted to, no curfew for me. It was such a shame that we only got a week off because I really did need a good holiday.

The Christmas party had been, as I had predicted, a rather dull affair. Rooms full of boring adults discussing their lives with people they hadn't seen since last Christmas. It was like one big family reunion only filled with super polite people who faked caring for each other rather than actually caring for each enough that they'd end up having massive arguments. But given that my other option was to hang around with kids who talked about all the same crap they did while at school what choice did I have. I was left alone as Luna had retreated to her own little world and I couldn't join her since I lacked the needed telepathic powers for such a thing.

Thankfully I was rescued by kind-hearted Cedric who knowing that we were Ravenclaws did the decent Hufflepuff thing and showed us were one of the libraries was. Luna and hide there until it was time to go. I decided at that point to make an effort to save that guy's life. I didn't have a clue on how to do that but I had time to come up with a plan I was sure that I would think of something.

On the other hand Christmas Day had been very good. Xeno (which was what Luna's Dad asked me to call him) wasn't quite so absent minded as to let us go off to the Alley alone for our shopping but he didn't mind me wandering off for a while under the pretext of getting Luna another gift as a thank you for her letting me stay over for Xmas.

This had allowed me to do a little shopping and I had brought presents but that hadn't been my prime objective. I'd actually gone to pick up a gift from the Traveller. Foolishly I'd forgotten about his note that would let me ask for things but still he'd gotten me a few things.

I now had my own House Elf which was just great as my 'family home' would need caring for until the day I could claim it and given that Houses Elves could pop in and out of the school with ease the Elf could also get me the hell out of that death trap of a castle if needs be. I still couldn't into Mason Manor but at least now I could have the Elf take things there for me and bring them back. It made hiding the Christmas presents a lot easier.

While shopping I'd had to avoid Neville who was out buying his own wand as I had hoped. The night before the school term ended I'd broken Neville's wand 'accidentally' he'd been rather miffed to say the least but I knew it was for the best he'd become a better wizard because of what I'd done.

I'd also made a few inquires while out and about. My efforts had gone no where in the end as finding a Horcrux destroying weapon was not easy. There were goblin made blades (albeit highly expensive ones) for sale but Basilisk venom wasn't something you could just order in the apothecaries.

Perhaps in Knockturn Alley such a thing could be found but I wasn't going to go there alone at my age. At this rate I'd have to go with my plan to put the cursed objects on a very small island and then use fiendfyre to burn them. Risky but if I fired the spell from a boat and then got my new Elf to pop me far away it should work as long as Horcruxs weren't fiendfyre proof in this version of the Potter verse.

As I'd wandered around I'd thought about what might be happening at the school. With no Heir to worry about the golden trio wouldn't have bothered brewed up that potion in order to try and find out of Malfoy was the Heir or at least if he knew who it was. Given that he was dead they couldn't of done that anyway but if I knew those three they were likely up to something. If I had to guess I'd go with doing something foolish to try and get Dumbledore back into the Headmaster's office.

Personally I didn't see Dumbledork as the kindly and caring grandfather figure he pretended to be. He was too powerful to be truly good, no one with that kind of power could really afford to be. When you get older (or at least remember being older) you figure out that that few people are fully dark or light most people are shades of grey. Granted most people are a light shade of grey but there's always that touch of darkness if you look closely enough.

Still despite my failure to acquire the needed venom the day out was overall a good one. I'd gotten some books as gifts to others and was all set for Christmas Day.

That day had been an odd one. Wizards and witches really embrace everything about Christmas. Aside from Santa and Jesus. I would of thought would diminish the holiday but really it just left room for Pagan stuff like Yule time logs, crackers and winter themed decorations. The Rookery was turned into a short of giant Christmas tree and the fairies were actual fairies. Xeno even cast a spell which made a ball of light appear over the house for a few hours, which seemed odd to me as the star was all about the three wise men finding baby Jesus but it was really awesome so I said nothing about it.

It wasn't all perfect, the food other than the turkey was a bit odd but if the worse you can say about someone is that they have strange taste in side-dishes then there bloody good people. Granted drinking infusions of something that I could only think of as some sort of beetroot was not a pleasant pastime but compared to what it was like at dinner time back at school it wasn't a big deal.

I also did well in terms of gifts, not surprisingly I got books but I'm a Ravenclaw it wouldn't surprise me if I got books as a gift at the wedding Luna was already planning for us.

I knew that she was planning for us to marry because she doesn't bother to hide her journal and I only read the page it was opened on so it was observing than spying. I'd also found out that marriageable age for a man was sixteen and for a woman it was fourteen although I don't think any of the fourteen year old girls at Hogwarts are married so I guessed it must an old rule that no one had made use of for a while.

Discovering all of that made me feel a strange mixture of amusement and terror about the 'wedding' but it was something that I could again put off for a while. Well at for at least four years as I was twelve now as birthday hadn't changed. I could even delay until I was seventeen as I couldn't get the parental consent needed to marry before coming of age.

If it were any other girl I'd even of dismissed as a silly girl thing but given that Luna was a Seer there was a good chance that she already foreseen it. Knowing my luck her wedding plans were prophecy and would soon be stored in Department of Mysterious.

Although I suppose it wouldn't be to bad. Were already sleeping together ,the in most literal meaning of the term, and it was quite nice once the awkwardness wore off. We had enough time to figure out if we were really right for each other and there really wasn't any pressure, since while she had romantic intentions they weren't physical ones and I didn't feel anything lust wise towards her at all. At least for now.

It was now Boxing Day and tomorrow was our last day off. The day after that would be the train journey back to Hogwarts not something I was looking forward to.

At the moment I was sitting on Luna's bed (or should that be our bed) reading my present from Ginny, not surprisingly a book, it was old and worn which meant second or third hand but I didn't mind as it was very interesting and very well thought out given that I had mentioned at one of the 'study group meetings' that I didn't know much of my family history.

The book was about the history of the Mason family, a family that hadn't existed until September 1st of this year.

Currently I was reading about ancestors of mine and given the scale of the rich, and utterly fake history, my family had I was starting to see how the Traveller could of messed up events so much. Inserting the Ancient and Noble House of Mason into the the history books was bound to have some sort of odd effect on the time stream.

In fact I was pretty sure that some of these accomplishments that my ancestors were famed for were stolen form others and a few seemed to be completely made up. For example the Wizarding World didn't have magical vacuum cleaners as far as I recalled but my died but non-existent Father had invented one. Not they seemed to be used, which was a bit wasteful in my opinion.

None of the events mentioned in the book had actually happened as far as I knew but Wizardkind can live for hundreds of years so even if the last few generations of Masons hadn't of done much there would be people out there who would 'remember' some of these events but only after September 1st.

It was also interesting that the book had the Masons being a very grey family. Nothing really dark was mentioned but my family wasn't on the side of angels either. I had thought that the Traveller would push me towards being the next Dark Lord since that would be the most 'amusing' careerer for him to watch. But now I thinking that while he might prod me in that direction he wouldn't be forcing me down that path, which made sense to me because if the Traveller did force me to do it then I'd just be his puppet and what would be the fun in that.

Of course that didn't stop the Traveller from sending me the odd nudge in what he would see as the right direction. After all a few weeks ago I'd started my 'study group' which might as well be called Future Death Eaters Of Lord... well something dark, evil or gothic sounding it would involve skulls and wearing black in any case. And despite me not having a Dark Lord name the 'study group' was in my mind a good foundation to eventual attempts at world domination.

Another suspected nudge towards me going to the darkside was my House Elf I suspected this because right now she was standing by the bed with a tray which had a hot drink and slice of cake upon it.

"I'z be bringing you a bed time drink and snack Master Damien" declared Tizzy my Elf.

Luna who also had a tray wasn't going to be outdone said in rather an irate tone of voice.

"No, I have brought him his bedtime drink and snack. And then I'll be joining him in bed".

If Luna and I were adults I'd be anticipating some anger fuelled sex pretty soon but for now Luna was sticking to the other way to make a man happy, which was to feed him yummy food and fawn over him like he was the centre of the universe. Something I was rather grateful for as while I might be mentally old enough to deal with sex I wasn't physically able to. She wasn't ready either even if she did seem to living the life of an older version of herself without the body to match.

In my mind Luna was clearly staking her claim to me well in advance of needing to because she already seen the future of us being together and she wasn't going to risk me ending up with someone else. So she was getting possessive and I was expecting a lot of attention from her.

Normally I'd enjoy this sort of thing as having competing females fussing over you is kinda nice, but Tizzy rightly thinks that I am to young to have a girlfriend never mind one who shares a bed with me. And of course she's right which makes it worse as the Elf has the moral high ground.

"Why don't I just have both trays" I offered as a compromise.

For that remark I got twin looks of death that made me feel rather intimated despite the fact that I could wipe the floor with of both of them even without using magic. Women of any species can be really scary. Thankfully they soon focused on each other and I decided to keep my mouth shut.

As the Elf and Luna argued about who should be taking care of me I was reminded of the old fashioned (and rather sexist) saying of that the recipe for trouble was two women in the same kitchen. As I saw it this saying was a warning about having the two most important women in your life (your mother and your wife) in the same house.

Apparently it also applied to House Elves who wanted to take care of what they saw as a very young man alone in the world. And to very young ladies who have decided to pick out their future husband well in advance and to start taking care of him now because his mother wasn't here to do it. Both were doing what they saw as the right thing, and I sort of agreed really as on the surface of things I was a kid alone in the world, but I really wasn't a kid so this was really unnecessary not that my opinion mattered.

"Fine, how about this. He has my cake and your drink and I'll have your cake and my drink" offered Luna "and then you go away".

"Fine, but Tizzy will be serving Master breakfast in bed!" said my Elf.

I'd been the under the impression that House Elves were docile creatures for the most part. Granted they were willing to use force when they had do but they'd never struck me as being so aggressively demanding about having their own way.

Worse was Luna, she'd been very aggressive as well. It was nice to have her standing up for herself but it was rather scary to see her go further than that. She was now trying to enforce her will upon others and that worried me.

Hopefully it was just a phase or an adjustment period she needed in order to adapt to but if it wasn't I was going to have to rethink this whole marriage thing which was freaky considering that we weren't even dating.

My real hope however was that she acting this way due to stress. I'd already been through High School and College so I had experience with that sort of environment. But she'd didn't and things at school were intense to say the least, add in the hormones and she'd be a walking bag of mixed feelings made worse by even more hormones I could see why she would act out.

I would of liked to have calmed her down but I really had no idea how. I'd never had to deal with someone like Luna, mostly because there is no one like Luna at least in my reality, given my limited expertise my options were one of two. Using the past as I guide I could either buy her chocolate ice cream and then run away before I was consumed along with the frozen treat or try to comfort her with hugging, which would of course lead to her venting out her feelings upon me.

Lacking the means to buy ice cream or any other kind of chocolatey goodness I had no choice. I moved to take the girl into hug as I'd expected she burst into tears.

Author Note:

This chapter was a bit sort but I felt it should end at that point so as to allow Luna's character development to be shown in the next chapter. Hopefully I can make a big chapter next time without having to change the scene although I may have to change scenes for the next chapter as with no Chamber there's not much else that can happen this year at least not past Valentines day and of course the Easter Holidays. The Summer Holidays should be a pretty big chapter and I don't see the point of not getting to next year sooner rather than later.


	6. Chapter 6

**Tylermech66 5/12/13 .**

**In my view Luna was only ever on the lightside because Harry included her in Dumbledore's Army. Given that she saw her mother die in what I assume was a nasty way at such a young age she has enough childhood trauma to make her the next Bellatrix. Add in the bullying which would take away herself esteem and she could be moulded perfectly by anyone who bothered to make an effort. Without Potter she would of at best ended up neutral. **

**Potter made her a lightsider by befriending her and giving her an example to follow but if he'd gone dark and become the next Voldemort she would as I already said be the next Bellatrix assuming he recruited her like he did as a good guy. **

**Luna is brilliant, mentally unstable and easily influenced by friends that's why this Gothic keeps her around although to be fair he isn't changing her on purpose. I suppose Damien has in a way created his own Bellatrix but there both 'gray' rather than 'light' or 'dark'. Damien isn't really evil if you think about it he has some morals and there are lines he won't cross so at worse he will be a dark gray but never truly evil like Voldemort. **

**In this chapter you will see that she is influencing him in many ways trying to set him on a certain path. In my experience this does happen girls tend to try and change the men they love (or at least deeply care for) into who they want that man to be. In doing so they can end up changing who they are to please him as this helps them to influence the guy. I don't think its done on purpose but I've seen it in action. Heck I've been that guy. **

**So whose turning who darker in this story? Damien might of gotten Luna out her shell so to speak but that just gives her the confidence she was lacking and given her Seer powers she's not above manipulating people for her own ends in order to achieve a desired result. **

**And yes I made this Luna awesome :) **

**Z2010Deadmeat.**

**Would you call upon on a Cosmic Horror which is screwing with your life for a favour? Gothic will ask for things but he knows some favours come with to high a price. Besides he has plans for getting rid of the Horcruxes he just needs to wait until Voldemort has a body again before destroying them all as Voldemort has to be alive in order to die. Which makes sense to me at least but I'll explain in case it doesn't to everyone esle.**

**A Horcrux is a like an anchor they stop him from moving on to the after life however to move on you have to die he's not alive at this point so he might not be able to move on if the Horcruxs are destroyed right now so Gothic might as well wait. **

**wooden farts there on the go.**

**Nice idea but I don't own the being who trapped the Traveller I don't have to right to use it for anything else. I'm sure I'll think of something its just a matter of having a eureka moment. **

**JakeCrown **

**I don't think that would work as we can drop bombs from that high already and they don't surpass nukes. In theory a mass accelerator in high orbit could surpass nukes by harvesting space junk and then launching it at Earth but that would require advanced technology Gothic simply doesn't have.**

**And in any case Bludgers would lack the mass needed even if he could get the needed velocity and while objects due pick up speed when falling that has limits there comes a point when you reach terminal velocity. **

**Plus he does live in the Wizarding World that would be destroying his own home. And Wizards are world wide judging by the fact that they had a world cup how would he get the world wide wizard population in one place. **

**In short it seems simple but in reality its just not workable. **

**Douchiesnacks**

**I'm on a roll with this story so you don't have to wait long for a new chapter. **

**Ceti H. Black **

**What's going to be funny?**

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Six.**

**The Room Of Requirement. Hogwarts School. Scotland. The Wizarding World. **

Once more my 'study group' was meeting up in the Room Of Requirement for one of its twice weekly meetings. These meetings could eat up a few hours since we didn't just study we also discussed the rumours going around the school and made plans for the future.

I often thought that these days we seemed be more of a secret society than just kids hanging out while learning how to defend ourselves. I'd known that this club of ours might turn out this way but I was surprised by how quickly we'd gone from an informal club of sorts into what I feared could some day become recruitment meetings for my future Death Eaters.

Well at least for now it really wasn't that bad, we were for the most part just kids playing a game and just because we were hiding our actions that didn't mean that were doing anything wrong. After all people like to feel important so being a member of a club which had limited membership and hidden secrets did make us all feel more important. Granted it was Luna and I who had all the secrets but we did share a little of that information with Neville and Ginny which gave them as a sense of importance.

Still I did often wonder how long it would be before we went from playing secret society to actually being one. It wouldn't take much, we were already hidden away and we protected the information we had keeping it from others. None of us ever talked to anyone outside the group about what this group got up to and we even had a name 'The Outcasts'.

If we ever started making oaths or if I offered to start teaching magic that was unknown to the rest of the Wizarding World then we might as well just admit that we really were what we were currently pretending to be.

I often had to keep reminding myself that we were four were just kids who had a secret clubhouse and nothing more. As I turned to look at Ginny and Neville I saw their innocence and told myself off for thinking the worse. Luna and I might be old before our time, for different reasons, but those two were just children who got a thrill from being in an exclusive study group and nothing more. If anyone did turn this group into something that would start conspiracies and plots it would be me not them.

"Are we going to get some more members?" asked Gin who had noticed me looking at her and Nev "its nice being together but it would be better if we had a few more people".

It was just a club I told myself. Its all innocent she just wants more friends.

"That's a good idea Gin" agreed Nev "but we need to be careful The Outcasts can't just recruit anyone we like were a secret group we only let certain people join".

I flinched a little but reminded myself that what he was saying wasn't that bad he just didn't want this group to become to public as it would take the fun out of it.

"We can make them take oaths" suggested Ginny "so that they won't tell people what we talk about here and we don't have to tell new members everything we know. We can be Damien's inner circle who get taught the most and we can recruit people with important parents so that we can find out what's going on at the Ministry as well as the school".

Oh good lord.

"We still need a symbol" reminded Luna "something we could get on badges but if anyone asks about them we can't say why we wear them. Like a skull and crossbones. And we should have code names for the inner circle members".

Okay now I was getting a little worried again.

"I think badges would be a bad idea" I said with a firm voice "its not very secretive to have a symbol people can see".

Hopefully me putting my foot down on that issue would stop this silliness. I should really put a proper end to this kind of talk but I didn't want to as I liked having a group of close friends like this lot.

"Well tattoos are easy to hide behind clothes" offered Luna as a suggestion "but you can't remove a tattoo so how about an amulet those can be taken off and hidden".

I resisted the urge to slam my head against the wall in frustration as if anything I was making this all worse.

"How about a fox's head" suggested Neville "no ones going to think anything odd about that and Damien can turn into a fox".

Now I regretted showing that trick off as while it had been fun to freak Neville and Ginny out letting others see that trick might get me into trouble.

"Best not tell anyone I can do that" I reminded the other three students "I'm too young to be an Animagus".

Neither Nev or Gin had ever asked me how I could transform into an animal despite the fact that I really shouldn't be able to at my age as it takes years to learn after all. I could only assume that they saw it as proof of just how powerful I am and as another reason to follow me as a leader.

"I'll make some fox head amulets" offered Luna "my Mum taught me how to transfigure jewellery and I have a few silver chains I don't need any more".

Luna had started to mention her Mum more and more since the Christmas Holidays, she'd really opened up to me which was kinda nice. All that touchy feely stuff wasn't my thing per say but I greatly benefited from having my best friend living in the present and given that she was a Seer it was extra beneficial because I was getting a lot more warning about future events, now that she here in the present to tell me about them.

Her Seer abilities were needed now more than ever as my knowledge of events wasn't what it use to be. Things were so different than I had expected them and I knew that while certain events I knew about might still come to pass things would be different enough that my own future knowledge wouldn't be enough to allow me to stay on top of things. I really didn't want to another surprise like Draco's death.

And I liked knowing stuff I shouldn't. I'd impressed Neville and Ginny no ends with all the knowledge I had. I'd told them stuff like Snape had once been a Death Eater and that Dumbledore had once been friends with the very Dark Lord whose defeat of had made him famous. They'd lapped up this information like thirsty dogs.

But without Luna's ability to see what others couldn't, thus ensuring certain details about this alternate universe were the same as the one I knew about, I'd be utterly lost.

However not all of my knowledge was useless any more I had predicated a few things myself and been able to warn my friends. Such things like Lockhart's silly Valentines morning which had still happened. Gods that had been embarrassing.

I'd smartly gotten Luna a card and present, nothing too romantic of course since we weren't a couple, and I'd also been smart enough to do it discreetly. As had she, her card had been home made and a lot more colourful than mine, but she was a girl after all.

However that hadn't been the only Valentines Day gift I'd gotten. It hadn't been as bad as having a Dwarf sing a poem at me but the balloons had been a bit over the top and I had no idea who it was from either. The only girl aside from Luna that I spent any time with was Ginny and she was crushing on Potter big time so it couldn't be her. I could only assume that it was from an older student who didn't want anyone to know she was crushing on a first year. That or the Traveller was playing a prank on me. I wouldn't put it past the eldritch creature to do such a thing.

I figured that I really shouldn't worry about an anonymous Valentines as it might just be some girl I hadn't noticed before with a harmless crush but there was something about this school that made me weary of everything that happened within its walls. Then again perhaps I was just being paranoid.

Aside from that things weren't to bad around here now that Dumbledore had somehow wormed his way back into his old job.

From what I had been able to gather Lucy Malfoy (as I called him) had been using his son's death as a way of preventing a law from being passed. This prevention had involved getting Dumbledore kicked out due to Draco's death and according to Ginny her Dad was in major trouble for that whole flying car fiasco. Far more than he should of really given that everyone knew and tolerated his meddling with muggle things. After all he did have to know about how magic could be used to modify muggle artefacts otherwise how would he know what to look for when doing his job. But its hard to say no to a man who'd just lost his only child, its creates a lot of sympathy which Lucy had used well.

In any case these two events had been enough to ensure the law didn't pass as the two people pushing for the law had been publicly discredited. It was very underhanded to use a child's death to rouse sympathy for one's cause and I wanted to strangle the girlie haired wanker for using his own dead child to support his agenda, but I also oddly admired his dedication to his case.

However given that his cause was both morally wrong and doomed to failure (given that Purebloods were going the way of the Dodo) I didn't admire it that much.

"Damien do you have any ideas on who we could recruit?" asked Nev

I gave the matter some thought.

"We don't want any Snakes but we do have two Griffs and two Claws so why not get a couple of Puffs" I answered

I didn't know any of the Badgers myself but I imagined that one of these three did.

"Susan Bones has an Aunt in the Ministry so she might be able to get us information from home and if we can get her to join then Hannah Abbot will as well" commented Ginny.

It was doubtful that two random girls from the Hufflepuff house would want to join this little club but I'd let Nev and Ginny try. Luna would be a better choice for recruitment she would know who would join before they were even asked. Given that this was alternate universe I couldn't rely on people being to much like the versions of them I knew from the books, so they might actually end up being in my group.

The evidence for such thinking was all around me. Ginny was already a totally different person due to not being possessed by part of Riddle's soul , which for better or worse was all thanks to me, and Neville was far more confident than I could have imagined. And as for Luna well even I had to wonder who she really was under all the protective layers she wrapped herself up in. The nickname of Loony might not be so wrong given that sometimes I did have to wonder if she was actually crazy.

It couldn't all my doing. Even if children are very impressionable at this age. I single-handedly couldn't the reason behind them becoming such different people so quickly. Perhaps there lives at home had been different.

I'd find it interesting to see what Neville's Grandmother was like in the version of reality. Perhaps she more caring and supportive here. I'd also like to see what Ginny's mother was like in comparison to the one shown in the books as it would tell me a lot about who Ginny would become.

"That's smart" agreed Nev "we will know what's going on in three houses then. That leaves only the Snake Pit that we have to spy on"

Okay now I had to stop this. Sharing information between so that we could get a good idea of what was going on around us and perhaps in the future prepare for trouble was on thing but now we sounded like spies. This was going beyond secret club and becoming something that I didn't like.

"Hold on a second" I protested "this isn't a cabal we were running here I just wanted us to be aware of what's going on in the world".

Well actually I just wanted to know what was going on in the world because I was worried about what was different about this world when compared to the world shown in the books. But this wasn't the way to go about it.

"What's a cabal?" asked Ginny.

"Its a kind of like a secret society" I explained "a group of people who have an agenda of some sort say like overthrowing a government or gathering power, they plot and scheme to ensure things they want will come to pass".

"Well I don't want to overthrow the Ministry" said Neville "but being a secret society sounds good as it might help stop things from getting bad again like they were before Christmas".

That sounded quite reasonable when said out loud. After all this group had been created as a way of helping each other to stand up to the bullies. So it seemed logical that we should work to stop that nightmare from happening again, but because I was older in terms of experience I knew that while these things might start off as something innocent enough they could turn into something evil.

Which made me want to run away from this group. This was all getting to intense for me. I might be old in years but I was young in body and it just seemed so silly that I should feel so much concern over what school children were doing.

Then I realised that these were just school children. Kids were fickle, they would lose interest in this group sooner or later and it would be forgotten not long after that. I was worrying over nothing.

"Well as long as we don't start planning to blow anything up then being a secret society is fine with me" I stated

Plus if I did just leave the group they might carry on without me. Without me as a leader they'd just get themselves into trouble. Best to stick with them so I could stop things from getting out of hand. Or perhaps I was simply trying justify myself because deep down I liked the idea of being the head of a cabal.

"We should focus on the studying" insisted Luna "defence is a joke with Lockhart teaching so we should focus on that subject".

Even Ginny agreed with that and she'd been a major Lockhart fan until I'd set her straight on a few things, like how none of his books made sense and that every spell he used failed badly. It had taken a bit of effort but I'd managed to prove my points and now we were all united in our loathing of Lockhart.

"Its a shame we can't get him fired" moaned Neville.

"Unless he's caught sexually molesting a student I doubt Dumbledork will fire him" I pointed out "the position is cursed after all its hard enough finding people to take the job. But I could get a teacher sacked it would be Snape since the curse will take care of Lockhart for us".

For all my worrying about this group turning into a club for my future Death Eaters I myself didn't much care about the fate's of those like Lockhart. I might not be a very moral person but using children as tools to further my personal agenda was bit much even for me but then again if it was their idea to get Lockhart sacked then it wasn't something I was going to feel guilty about. And I might just be able to stop them from getting into trouble or doing something that got somebody hurt.

I got up and started to pace the room which was decked out as its usual format of half training room half study area. I started to think about ways of getting Lockhart expelled that wouldn't involve breaking any rules. But I couldn't think of anything serious enough to get the 'teacher' sacked that didn't run the risk of getting us expelled if we messed it up.

But then I remembered two facts. The first was that Lockhart was a coward and second he was more importantly a fake. So I could either expose him as a fake or simply scare him away. Exposing him as a fraud shouldn't be too hard, most of the school had figured it out by now (well all of the men had anyway) it was just a matter of finding evidence really.

It would easy to expose him in the Quibbler I could come up with a few good articles pointing out all the inconstancies but what was in the Quibbler wasn't believed by many. And the Daily Prophet wouldn't print something sent in by a school child.

What I really wished I had access to was a school newspaper something that I could use to expose the madness that was going on here in the school, hopefully to the whole nation. But that would require a printing press. Something that I did have access to in a roundabout sort of way.

Ideas hit me and I turned to face the group intending to make them hear my new plan even as I was still thinking it through.

"Okay Outcasts if you really want to make a change around here I have a way we can do it without breaking any rules and more importantly it will give us a way to recruit more members".

I had there full attention already.

"If we can Luna's Dad on board I was thinking that we start our own school newsletter. We write some stories, something that's just a few pages about what's really going on around here and then send it off to Luna's Dad. He prints the paper for us and then we get my House Elf to dump piles of them in public places. This way we can expose Lockhart and tell the truth about those like Snape. If Dumbledore won't sack the bad teachers then fine, we will get the court of public opinion to do it for us".

"No one will believe us" argued Ginny "were first years".

"They won't know that were first years" I pointed out "we can use fake names and once we let a few little facts be know, stuff school children shouldn't know, then people will pay attention. Of course we don't want to be taken too seriously so even if its only the students who pay attention then its for the best".

I was already starting to feel better about this whole secret society thing. If we shared information with the whole student body then it wouldn't be so bad as we would just be keeping ourselves hidden to protect ourselves rather than so we could keep manipulating things from behind the scenes.

"Lockhart isn't a problem" insisted Luna who was normally right about this sort of thing "Snape will be. He's just not worth keeping around not with what Damien knows anyway".

I could get rid of Voldemort's Horcruxes whenever I wished given that the test case had gone well. The diary and the diadem had been destroyed by fiendfyre as I'd hoped and given that House Elves could bypass wards it would be a simple matter for send Tizzy off to get the ring. Heck I'd bet more than few galleons that she could get Hufflepuff's cup right out of Gringotts if I ordered her to.

The locket was a problem but I had an idea on that. I might have to harm Kreacher to get it but that was a small price to pay in order to stop Riddle.

Nev and Gin knew enough to know that I knew more than I should but they didn't pry since they knew it would do them no good. It was doubtful that would believe me anyway so it was best to let them think I simply had sources of information far greater than the rumour mill and eavesdropping they relied upon.

"What about Binns?" inquired Neville "he really needs to be gotten rid of as well as Snape".

At least I didn't have to worry about them hurting Binns as he was already dead. And short of an exorcism I couldn't think of anything that we could do that would even get Binn's attention. It might be boring to have to sit through his classes but I didn't think it was a good idea to try and speed the ghost onto the next great adventure, assuming that was even possible.

"Let's worry about Snape for now" I said in my most commanding voice wanting to keep this group on track "Binns is a boring dead guy but he's not evil like Snape".

Snape was the one person I wouldn't mind killing. I don't care if he risks his life to protect Potter he's just not worth putting up with. The movie version is nothing compared to the guy in the books and if anything the Snape we have here is even worse. He was mentally abusing children which was a horrid thing to and while I didn't much care for people I didn't know I just hated that Snape was even allowed near children never mind allowed to teach them. If fact I can't even recall him teaching anybody anything, he's really that bad of teacher.

At some point Luna had come up behind me and was leaning in to whisper something in my ear.

"Don't kill him Damien" begged Luna "you don't want to draw that kind of attention to yourself, not yet anyway".

Well it wasn't as if I was eager to become a murderer and if Snape died then what little control the staff had over the Snakes would vanish. It could end up being worse than when Draco died.

"Okay then" I said loudly enough to be heard by all the Outcasts "lets find a way to deal with our Potions Master, something non-lethal".

"Dumbledore won't sack him" reminded Luna as she retook her seat "so if exposing his actions to the public isn't enough we need to de-fang the serpent somehow".

Now that was an idea. We could make it impossible for him teach at all by removing his ability to intimate students. I had no idea right now how I could do that but it was much better than harming him.

It was either that or framing him for something criminal. The problem mostly with doing that was Dumbledore, he would protect Snape and get him out of any minor trouble. In fact the Headmaster must be protecting Snape already because I can't imagine that in ten years of teaching here Snape hasn't pissed off a student's parents by abusing their child's self esteem to the point were the child has had a breakdown. I'd wager that a number of angry parents have been in to see the Headmaster over the years to complain but obviously it hasn't done any good.

"Okay Luna and I will find a way to deal with Snape while you two" I said pointing to Nev and Gin "will start researching ghosts. There must be some way to get rid of them, find it for me soon as you can".

The two Lions headed for the library so fast that I didn't have time to point out that I hadn't meant right this minute but it would keep them busy while I figured out how to deal with the greasy haired bully. Plus it would be better if those didn't know exactly what I had planned as they couldn't protect their minds like Luna and I could.

Well I had my way of protecting my thoughts I wasn't sure how Luna's protection worked but I was sure it did. Perhaps the fact that she wasn't mentally in the present a lot of the time worked as a shield. Reading her mind would be like trying to read a book that hadn't been written yet were as my mind was a book that told a load of lies that couldn't be disapproved.

Luna was watching me pace with an eager look on her face. Perhaps she wanted me to order her about as well but I didn't really have anything for to do right now.

"So Snape then" I said trying to getting Luna to tell me something "any ideas there".

"Killing him right now would doom you Damien. Please for my sake just don't do it" she pleaded.

I hadn't really planned on murdering anyone. I might be quite willing to kill people when the war started but for now I understood that killing someone for what they might do later was still murder and not pre-emptive strike upon the enemy. If it was I'd be justified in going down in the dungeons and wiping out the entire Vipers Den.

But with Snape it was different. For starters he was a Death Eater and that wasn't a group innocent people joined, at least not willingly. Snape was the reason that both Longbottom and Potter hadn't been raised by loving parents. If Neville ever found that out he'd kill Snape himself.

"Fine I'll stick to just tormenting the git" I promised Luna "I'll find a way to drive him out of this school".

"He might lash out if do that" warned Luna "he's not the most stable of people".

That was true. I might drive him to violence and wind up getting someone else hurt.

"And we can't put the fact that he's the reason Potter is an orphan in our paper either" I realised "that would really stir up a hornet's nest around here".

Potter might not be the golden boy he seems to be and even the best of people have a limit. There was a real chance that Potter might actually kill Snape if he knew the truth.

"So I need to get him out of the school in one move" I reasoned "but I can't see how were going to do that".

"Whatever you do Neville and Ginny can't be involved" warned Luna "right they don't know anything that could be traced back to you doing anything illegal and from what you told me if Dumbledore does read your mind it will show him that your innocent".

True enough. I wasn't sure how it worked but the shield around my mind was suppose to trick people who read into thinking that I was exactly what I looked to be. I couldn't read that mind myself but I guessed that even if Dumbledore did suspect me due to reading Neville or Ginny's surface thoughts, then at worse all I'd be in trouble for would be planning a childish prank.

That meant that I'd have to prank the guy for real so that any sort of investigation would just led to me losing some house points at worse.

"Okay so no killing" I said thinking out loud "and any sort of maiming can be fixed. How about a total memory wipe?".

Luna smiled and said.

"I can see that working but you will have to wait for the end of the year and you can't rid of Lockhart before then if you want this to work. I'll tell you about that after Easter and I'll need you do a few things to make it happen. But in return I might you need to do something for me at the end of next year since Snape won't be around".

It didn't take me long to figure out what she meant. The curse of the Defence would work its will on Remus Lupin and without Snape around things might go differently enough that the werewolf could kill someone. Lupin was a good person despite his affliction so I wasn't going to let hurt anyone".

"Your seeing things more clearly now aren't you?" I inquired off Luna.

"Ever since Christmas" she replied before going on to tell me what to do about Snape. "Now if you want things to work out just as you want them to then you need to ask your 'friend' for a couple of favours. I can make some amulets but I can't enchant them so that Neville and Ginny's minds will be protected. Susan and Hannah will need some too after we convince them to become reporters for our Newsletter".

I winced.

"I really shouldn't of told you everything" I said with a sigh.

Well I hadn't told her everything but I got the feeling she knew more than I had told her anyway.

Luna smiled at me wrapped her arm around mine and said.

"Like you could hide anything from me, James. Luckily for you I happen to like older men there much more mature and given that I am physically older than you then you don't have to feel guilty about robbing the cradle".

Damn Seers, you really can't hide anything from them.


	7. Chapter 7

**douchiesnacks**

**I didn't get an alert either or for the reviews posted. I had to double check that the chapter had been posted at all. Hope that doesn't happen for this chapter. **

**war sage **

**Glad you liked the last chapter. This one might be a dull as its filler mostly. **** I didn't want to rush to the end of the first year too quickly so I wrote this chapter. ** Although I think I managed to make it engrossing.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Seven.**

**Neville's Greenhouses. Longbottom Manor. The Wizarding World. **

I was spending my Easter holidays at Longbottom Manor and so far I had to admit that it didn't suck anywhere near as much as I'd thought it would.

Luna had told me that it would be a good idea for me to not be at her house this Easter as she was going to convince her Dad to let her go on my planned Summer holiday rather than his planned trip to try and find rare, if not totally non-existent, magical creatures. So spending some time with her father without me around would make it easier to convince him that I wasn't going to steal his child away from him just yet.

Not that it was my planned vacation the whole idea was the Traveller's idea. In return for enchanting a few amulets so that the Outcast's couldn't have their minds read and a container of Basilisk venom he'd demanded, or at least strongly suggested, that we should let him plan our Summer holidays.

I guessed that saying no to the creature that could reverse my ageing, throw me into a fictional universe and give me magical powers as a reward wasn't a smart thing to do. At least not if you wanted your sanity left intact afterwards.

So this Summer I would be spending my time on another world, or at least that was how it sounded since the Traveller did mention that it would be out of this world. The only other clues the Traveller gave us was that we would be learning a lot while gone and that we'd back in time for our second year at school.

These clues, as poor as they were, led me to deduce that we would only be gone for a matter of weeks and that we would taken care of as we couldn't return for our second year at school if we were gone to long, and that someone would be both teaching and looking after us as while Luna and I might be mentally older than our peers we weren't that capable of defending ourselves. At least not yet. But just in case I was wrong I was going to make sure that we practised some more combat spells before the school term ended. After all there were places out there in omni-verse that made the Wizarding World at it worse look like an average day in Noddy's Toyland in comparison.

At least I was getting some rest and relaxation while at Longbottom Manor. It was very peaceful here and I had quickly discovered where Neville got his talent for Herbology. There were more greenhouses at Longbottom manor than there at most of the garden centres I'd visited.

Also it turns out that the Longbottoms aren't just rich they are very, very rich and judging by Neville's genius with plants if he played his cards right he could end up increasing his fortunes by selling plants that supplied rare potion ingredients. If Snape gets as planned sacked we might be able to learn enough to actually make new potions using what could be cultivated in these Greenhouses.

I'd likely end up hinting at the idea of making money once we got back to school, for now I was happy to let him ramble on about his passion for plants. During the times when I could be bothered to pay attention I must of learned more than all my Herbology classes put together so far.

This guy was really that good but he wasn't the type to show off at school and even now he sounded more like he was lecturing on the subject he enjoyed rather than boasting about his talent to a friend.

All I did was nod politely and look at whatever it was he was pointing at which was mostly at exotic plant species that shouldn't be able to grow outside a tropical jungle and wouldn't have for anyone but him, at least in my opinion.

Still despite my almost complete lack of interest in Herbology I really was having a good time. I'd of much preferred to spend my time off being showered with attention by Luna but if I couldn't be with her then this was the place to be.

It was a thousand better than what I'd be putting up with if I had accepted Ginny's invitation as unlike like Luna's Dad I didn't think that Arthur Weasly would be happy with me being in his daughters bed. I wasn't old enough to worry Gin's parents about bed stuff that much but I was too old for it to seem totally harmless. So I'd of likely of ended up sharing a room with Ron which sounded horrible as according to Neville the guy snored and he wasn't subtle about having a wank either. I'd take Neville and his plant stories over the ginger nut any day of the week.

Another reason why I was glad to be out of the school for Easter was that the first Outcast newsletter had published and sent out. Having your own House Elf was so handy when it comes to self publishing. My... well slave was the only word for it as she refused to be paid, had taken what we Outcasts had made to Xeno and he had turned it into a proper newsletter.

It had been wonderful to see my groups hard work as a finished product. It gave us all a great sense of accomplishment. Granted there wasn't much in the first newsletter as we had to be careful about what we said but everything in it was true. Recruiting Susan and Hannah as reporters (or spies as half the Outcasts called them) had been a great idea as they knew everything going on in their house and that gave us more to write about.

My contribution to the Outcast newsletter was a rather good piece about Lockhart's book sales. Rather than write about his teaching style (if you could call it that) or point out the impossibilities in his books (of which there were many) I'd instead pointed out that adding his entire book list to the school equipment list had allowed his novels to dominate the best seller lists last Summer. I'd not written that this was a bad thing I'd just pointed it out while mentioning that none of the other teachers had added their own written work to the list despite the fact that many of them had written books.

This had involved quite a bit of research since as I'd had to find those books which would of normally been impossible if I hadn't gotten Granger's help. In retrospect that had been a silly idea as she was smart enough to realise that her tour of the library had involved showing me how the library catalogued its stock. She might put two and two together and then figure out why I had wanted to know were the books on each subject first and second years studied could be found.

Of course she had no proof that my search had anything to do with the Outcast newsletter but she still might make the connection and if she did well she would tell everyone just to show off as she would want everyone to know that she'd figured out who the 'Cunning Fox' was. Her need for approval from authority figures combined with her desire to demonstrate her intellectual superiority would cause her to 'out' me before the the rest of her peers had finished reading page one of the newsletter.

Given that I was even smarter than she was (if only because I'd been around longer) I realised my mistake and made sure that that one article mentioned the hard working House Elves at Hogwarts in the hopes that it would distract her. It might work and if didn't then the Outcasts would be exposed.

Luna had told me not to worry about it and that Granger wouldn't expose me. I trusted my Seer but I couldn't help but think that the swot was going to be trouble. I was also worried that Luna might do something extreme to ensure that I wouldn't be exposed as the 'Cunning Fox' . Luna didn't think like other people. To her things weren't right or wrong they were simply done at the right time or not at all.

Of course I might be worrying over nothing but I really couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to regret ever talking to the swot. If I'd been a school this week I might have done something drastic myself. I had no idea what that would be but it wouldn't of been something good.

So all things considered spending most of this week in Neville's greenhouses was a blessing even if it was too warm here and rather bad smelling due to the compose heaps.

I should of really been worried about the plants. Some of them were rather dangerous and oddly a few were cannibals. Cannibalistic plants that was idea hard to process you wouldn't think something that could be part of a salad could be fed on a diet of other plants. The food chain in the Wizarding World was very strange. But I shouldn't really judge as its well documented that humans have eaten other humans throughout history and even in modern times if driven to by hunger.

Thoughts like that were going to put me off my food at this rate. That would be a shame as Neville's Grandmother was the type to feed growing boys large amounts of cake and sweets. She wasn't the stern figure that I imagined, at least not in her own home, and seemed quite happy for Nev and I to spend the whole week making a mess of the place by either exploring the grounds or hanging out in the greenhouses.

Although to be fair its hard to get mad about kids making a mess when you have House Elves around, they make the dirt vanish so fast you could end up wondering if you'd actually made any mess in the first place.

"And this rare tree is from the magical nature reserve in the Amazon" explained Neville "its not magical itself but its being preserved along with hundreds of square miles of rainforest due to the muggles".

I snapped back to reality as Nev told me that.

"Sorry what was that about rainforests?" I asked.

Nev seemed happy to explain.

"Back in the 60's lots of Wizards and Witches went down to South America to start warding parts of the rainforests so that the muggles couldn't cut them all down. They work with some of the magical tribes over there to protect the environment".

I had no idea that Wizards did that sort of thing. I'd always thought that they paid little or no attention to what mundane humans got up to, it was odd to hear that some of them were doing something so constructive.

"Wizards do that sort of thing?" I inquired "care for environment and such?"

Nev seemed surprised that I didn't know about that.

"Of course, we do" he replied "its our planet to you know. There are lots of groups working to counter pollution. I mean muggles are mostly harmless but that doesn't mean they can't hurt us by accident".

They could it on purpose if they knew Wizards existed. Muggles could destroy cities but I thought it best not to mention the existence of atomic weapons. If Wizards thought that deforestation was the worse we... they could do then telling them about nukes would scare the shit out of them. The idea that the muggles could destroy this entire planet might make them panic and people who panic do stupid things. That or it wouldn't be believed which seemed more likely as it wasn't as if the rest of muggleborn or muggle raised didn't know about nuclear bombs.

You couldn't really fault magical folk for not knowing what muggles were capable of, that they knew as much as they did was amazing as they were a completely separate civilization after all with their own money, businesses, schools, hospitals and pop culture. Sure they knew little about muggles but most muggles knew nothing about wizards unless they had one in the family.

And yes Wizards and Witches were lazy but they could afford to be. If it weren't for the odd Dark Lord appearing now and again I'd call their world a near utopia at least for humans. Sure it wasn't so great for non-humans but starvation was unheard of here as was homelessness. Ginny's family might be considered poor but they had a roof over their heads and plenty to eat. Wizards didn't enslave other human beings and they didn't build WMDs. Granted they weren't all nice people but a lot of mundane humans weren't very nice for that matter.

Before I could ask about other Wizard groups that were out trying to save the world Neville's Grandmother (or Mrs. Longbottom to me as while she was a kind women she liked her etiquette) appeared wearing her trade mark vulture hat and carrying a handbag that could be used to demolish buildings if I was any judge.

"Its time to visit your parents Neville and then we shall do some shopping in the afternoon. This evening we shall be attending a dinner party with friends".

I tried not to look worried but my face betrayed me. Her formal tone made me think that the dinner party would be rather posh.

"Not to worry young man the dining is informal you and Neville will be with children your own age".

"Were going to Hannah's" explained Neville "she and I are arranged".

"As in arranged to be married?" I asked.

"Err yeah but its not mandatory" he said as if assuring himself "Either of us can opt out if we want to marry someone else its only the really traditional families that will force their kids to marry or be cast out. And if I marry someone else before the arranged ages then they don't have to give bride price back".

It was times like this that I was reminded about how backwards the Wizarding World seemed to be. For all its culture and comforts it felt very old fashioned to me. Arranged marriages in muggle Britain were considered barbaric by many but I understood that such things weren't uncommon in other parts of the world. At least only the 'traditional families, which I read to mean the inbred, insane dark families like the Blacks, would ever try to enforce such things. Neville's Grandmother and Hannah's parents probably just thought they would be a good match. And it wasn't as if some muggle parents would never disown a child for marrying someone they didn't approve of either.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Luna's father approached you about such an arrangement soon" mentioned Madam Longbottom (as she was called by adults) "I know that silly man had an arrangement with a friend of his for her to marry his son but your a much better match for that girl, she might be a bit dotty but I'm sure the marrying into an old family like yours would provide her with a more comfortable lifestyle. And Neville has told me how much she dotes upon you".

Then it clicked. Luna had written about planning a wedding with me as soon as possible. I'd thought it was a just a young girl being silly after all girls (at least the ones I grew up) did spend time planning weddings to guys they hardly knew and they rarely did marry that guy as he was soon replaced with another crush. Often this happened within the same week.

"What happens if Hannah wants to marry someone else?" I asked to know.

"Then I get the bride price back" answered Neville "but its not the money that matters its a matter of honour. Neither of us would back down unless we really wanted to marry someone else".

"But what happens if you don't like the person your going to marry" I questioned "but haven't got a partner already".

"You'd get married anyway" replied Nev "its just what's done".

Now I was beginning to worry. Was Luna trying to make me marriage material to avoid marrying someone she didn't know? Or was she going to pressure me into marrying young because she wanted to be with me but had a contract hanging over her head? Oh gods if I didn't marry her at seventeen I might lose her forever!

Taking a deep breathe I came to understand why parents arranged these sort of things. It was to much to worry about when its you. I was worrying about things I shouldn't have to because I didn't have parents around to deal with them. Being an orphan in this world was starting to suck.

"Hold on I'm a ward of the state" I pointed out "how can agree to an arrangement even if Luna's Dad asks?"

Lady Longbottom (her formal title) frowned at me as if I was being extremely stupid.

"Its not a legally binding contract young man" she clarified "its an arrangement between the heads of families or parents. Your a special case as normally an orphan is sent to any family they have be they muggle or magical. From what Neville told me your Father passed away as you started school so there was no sense in arranging an adoption. Wizards have no orphanages because most of us are at least distantly related to every Wizarding family in the country. Again the Masons seem to a special case. It must have been decided for you that you would stay at the school and spend your summers with your friends such as I assume you will with the Lovegoods this year. You are of course also welcome here".

She paused to make sure I understood what she had said before carrying on.

"A trust fund would have been set up at the bank to ensure that you had enough to buy your school supplies and of course pocket money. During your last year of schooling you will be given access to the Mason family fortune, as will Neville once he finishes school and I retire fully, but aside from the fact that you can't live alone or assume control of your family vaults until the age of Seventeen you are considered to be the head of your house".

This I already knew it was written in the letter the Traveller had sent me.

"You also have the right to arrange a marriage, to make investments as long as they don't overdraw your trust fund, purchase a House Elf, to decide what OWL and NEWT classes you will take and even to write your own Last Will and Testament".

Well my 'Father' had already signed up for the OWL and NEWT classes which he/it could do since he already knew what grades I get. Of course I could change them but that might make him/it a bit miffed at me.

Mrs. Longbottom then leaned forward a bit and said softly.

"And while you can't pay the bride price right now you can make an offer now and pay when your seventeen. Just remember you can back out as long as you still give that silly man the money".

The idea buying Luna seemed wrong but she could back out too. I wasn't so much buying a wife as I was buying the option to marry her later. If I had the arrangement to marry her I wouldn't feel pressured as it would be up to us when we got married if at all. Really I was just paying for her not to be forced into a marriage with a stranger.

"Now Damien you know how to use the floo, I assume?" Madam Longbottom inquired.

I nodded.

"Good Neville and I shall be taking the Knight Bus to St. Mungos. While we visit you shall use the floo to contact Mr. Lovegood and ask for his daughters hand in marriage. Don't barter its rude just take his offer, but do negotiate your terms fourteen is too young in this day and age you shouldn't be worrying about that sort of thing until after your NEWT exams.

"Terms?" I asked.

Nev's Grandmother sighed again but it was sad sigh this time.

"Your Father must have been very ill not to have explained this to you. Just tell him that if he plays silly buggers that I will take him over my knee again, he'll understand".

Well it wasn't hard to figure out what that meant and if Nev's smirk was any indication he'd sussed it out as well.

"Once you have made the arrangements you will take the Knight Bus yourself and met us at the Leaky Cauldron for a light lunch. I'm sure that you will want to buy your future wife a gift to celebrate as I am equally sure you will want to thank me. I will show the sort of things that are appropriate for young girls and ladies such as myself".

I was guessing that it would involve flowers as I doubted Mrs. Longbottom would expect a kid to fork out much money. She'd like flowers as Neville didn't seem to grow them perhaps they weren't lethal enough for him.

"Now you know where the fireplace is" she hinted "get to it young man".

**The Leaky Cauldron. London. The Wizarding World.**

Well that had been the kind of fun that wasn't. Luna's Dad was so laid back and cheerful that it was hard to talk to him about a serious matter. At least until I'd mentioned who had directed me to make the call. Amazingly Xeno had managed to turn even paler upon hearing upon hearing who it was.

I walked up to the bar and ordered a pint of beer forgetting for a moment that I wasn't quite eighteen yet. Thankfully Tom the manager didn't kick me out.

"Only if its butterbeer" he said in a joking voice "I don't serve the strong stuff till your seventeen"

Given that I hated butterbeer and that the exploding lemonade was well named I stuck with ordering a nice cup of tea before finding Neville and his Grandmother.

"So how did it go?" asked Neville before I'd even sat down "are you arranged?"

I nodded and then for some reason I decided to bury my face in the table.

"That bad, then" commented Nev.

His Grandmother demanded a more detailed answer while pouring me a glass of water from the jug.

"Well he set a price" I informed the Longbottoms.

I gathered that actually telling the price would be considered a bad thing as if it wasn't a social taboo I was sure that Madam Longbottom would of told me what she paid for Neville and Hannah to be arranged in order to give me an idea of the kinds of money involved.

I'd gotten the feeling from Xeno that the whole thing was normally a way of securing grandchildren and the continue on families than it was about money or ensuring that your kids have a good partner. Which made sense really as ensuring that your DNA gets carried on down the generations is a strong desire for human beings. It might be odd by the standards of how I was raised but I no longer saw as it something so wrong.

"Then we discussed terms"

My mouth was dry so I drank some water just in time to her Mrs. Longbottom say.

"Since you two will be dating soon no doubt. I assume you waved the virginity term".

Turns out that it is possible to nearly drown with only a glass of water.

"What!" I said in shock.

"Its traditional for the young lady to abstain from sex if her marriage is arranged. But the Lovegoods were always a free spirited lot so don't be shocked if she doesn't want to wait. Luna was just like her Mother was as babe, neither of them would keep their clothes on for long at least until they were sent off to Hogwarts and her Father spent some his youth living with muggle hippies sampling the odd plants they grew".

Hearing your friend's Nan talk about sex, nudity and people getting stoned is very uncomfortable although it did help me to come to the conclusion that this version of Nev's Grandmother was the reason this version of Neville wasn't as timid as I'd thought he would be.

She wasn't normally this open in public either but there wasn't anyone around to overhear us right now. Or at least not anyone would who repeat what she was saying.

Then I started thinking about how Luna's lack of sanity must run in the family. Assuming things went well I was going to marry a free spirited nudist (which admittedly had its up sides) and any kids we would have might have her lack of inhibitions combined with my strong egotism and possible megalomania. If I wasn't the next Dark Lord then it looked certain that I'd be the Father of one, maybe it could be a family businesses. We could advertise ourselves in the Quibbler.

Lunch arrived and we talked more as we ate, what I hoped was, beef stew.

"Did you set an age?" asked Nev.

"Xeno wants her married the summer after she finishes school" I informed him.

"He's not a good Father" commented Mrs. Longbottom "not a bad one of course just absent minded. He wants her married quickly so someone takes her off his hand. Silly man should of remarried by now. If anyone needs a proper family its dear Luna but getting her settled down quickly is the next best thing, otherwise she'll be off in heathen lands living in a forest like some sort of savage".

I could so picture her doing that. She'd be off riding something invisible across the wilderness while buck naked. That would be a waste of a brilliant mind there were much better use for her talent aside from the naked part that would be fine with me (in the years to come) but I really did feel that she should end up doing something more meaningful with her life.

"Now you need a gift" reminded Madam Longbottom "some keepsake for the young lady I remember Neville's Grandfather presenting me with a lovely music box. Does Luna have one?".

I hadn't a clue.

"No" I possibly lied "I'll get her a music box".

"And you will get me some tasteful flowers as a thank you for my help" she insisted "gift giving is important in our society".

I really should pick up a book on Wizarding World customs at some point. It would help me to avoid future problems. I didn't want to end up getting married to anyone but Luna and so I had to make sure that giving a girl a certain kind of gift didn't end with me trying to get divorced before I'd even left school.

"Oh there was something I wanted to ask of you Damien" mentioned the elder of the two Longbottoms once lunch was done and were making our way into the alley.

"What is it Mrs. Longbottom?" I questioned.

She didn't answer until we were in the alley proper and the background noise was enough to make any attempts at eavesdropping rather futile.

"One of the things you can't do until you reach manhood is to use your family seat on the Wizengamot".

I didn't recall the Traveller mentioning that the Mason family he created having a seat but it shouldn't surprise me. The Cosmic Horror did things for its own reasons and while I had no idea why I just couldn't be that surprised by this latest bit of news.

"I assume you don't much about our government so I will explain" the woman offered "the Wizengamot is made up of the heads of Pureblood families and officials of which are hundreds. Only about fifty serve at one time and the more seats you have the more often your called in to vote on issues and to oversee important trails. Controlling more seats means you get to vote more often. Most recently the more traditional families have been getting the most seats. I'm hardly a liberal but that law that Mr. Malfoy prevented was closer to passing than most realise. Had I been there it might of passed as I did support it".

It didn't take someone with a high IQ like mine to figure out where this was going.

"I assume then that I can give my vote to you Madam Longbottom"

It wasn't a question but she answered anyway.

"The Masons are quite an old family you control more than one seat being your proxy would ensure that I attend a lot of sessions. I'm surprised that old fool Albus hasn't asked you to let him stand in as your proxy. He has the Weasly and Potter seats already which are both important seats. He can't vote for those seats but he can make sure that those seats go empty and that they won't be filled by members of the traditional families".

Did he now. That was very interesting to hear. And it was also interesting that Mrs. Longbottom wasn't trying to manipulate me into giving her my seat. She could have offered me something but she was being tactful about it not actually asking so much as letting me offer it to her.

"I'd be happy to let you sit in proxy for me Madam Longbottom" I said sounding rather formal "until I'm finished with school"

A tight smile appeared on the old woman's face.

"Thank young Master Mason the Longbottom family are in your debt. I shall be sure to report regularly on what the Wizengamot votes upon in order to keep you informed".

It might seem like she was taking advantage of me but really she was doing me a favour as I had no idea how the government worked but by taking my seat Mrs. Longbottom would ensure that when I did sit in the Wizengamot as an adult that I would have an idea of what was happening and what my vote actually meant.

"Now that's enough business for one day, you two boys should be enjoying yourself during the school holidays. We shall have a fun afternoon of shopping and then a party with your young lady friends. I'll floo call your future Father-In-Law and the Abbots later to make sure Luna attends the Abbot's party they always get an invite in any case. This means that you must both have a proper gift for them both which means we shall be here for sometime. Damien you will need dress robes if going to show off your bride to be it will be more formal than planned".

If synchronised moaning was an Olympic sport Neville and I would have taken home the gold. Neither of us was a fan of shopping or dress robes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Selias**

**You know I didn't consider that. The Traveller took Damien's soul apart and then put it back together a bit badly so it might not be attached/connected (or however it works) like other peoples is, so Damien might not be able to make a Horcrux or have his soul devoured by the Dementors. **

**He'd still have to worry about the happiness sucking thing the demons do since he can feel, joy, love and happiness. **

**Also given that a Fidelius Charm implants a secret into a person's very soul he might not be able to be a secret-keeper either. **

**He wouldn't be able to become a ghost either. Not that he would as it seems to be a sucky existence. **

**I can make use of that idea, thank you. Its just a shame we never see Voldemort deal with a Dementor as that would give me an idea of how they react to people with damaged souls. I could just make him outright immune to Dementors due his soul not being right, that could freak the soul-suckers out perhaps. **

**I'm a bit put off by the whole Dark Wizards can't cast a patronus charm idea so I might have to make Damien outright immune or just ignore that silly rule as its not as if bad people can't have happy memories. On the other hand Damien more gray than dark since he's not out to commit genocide or kill innocent people nor does he attack children. **

**Douchiesnacks**

**I'm glad the alerts are working as I seem to updating a lot for this fic. **

**No writer's block so far, keep your fingers crossed. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Eight.**

**The School Grounds. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

Given that we didn't want Hannah and Susan, the reporters for the Outcasts paper, to know everything about the group Luna had sort of created we didn't head up to the Room of Requirement when having a full group meeting. Instead we went for a walk around the school grounds and once we found a quiet, and more importantly dry, spot to relax in we stopped. We'd done this before and we would do it again, for at least as long as Outcast paper existed.

While it might be spring now it was still cold so warming charms were applied liberally to the spot picked out and I walked around the area we settled near, but not to near, the forest in order to apply the protective charms.

Mostly they were to stop us from being overheard rather than to prevent us from getting harmed as the Forbidden Forest wasn't as dangerous as most thought it to be. At least not during the day anyway. I didn't think we would be overheard but one couldn't be too careful around here given how many creatures seemed to understand English despite not even being human and I had no doubt that many of them reported to Dumbledore.

I'd learned a few minor wards while in library and finding that Half-Blood Princes Potions Text Book had been a major boon. I'd not used it in potions class so far because Snape would have recognised his own work but the spells scribbled inside were really coming in handy. I loved the _muffliato _spell it made it so much easier to have private conversations.

The Half-Blood Prince AKA Snape had been quite the spell inventor while in school. The hex to make toenails grow amazingly fast was like the jinx to make someone's tongue stick to the top of their mouths were both minor bits of 'dark magic' but even the most hardcore 'light' wizards would just consider these spells a bit of schoolboy mischief.

Still I knew it could be a slippery slope as there were much darker spells in the Half-Blood Prince book. For example _Sectumsempra_ was nothing you would use as a prank yet it had no warning about how dangerous it was and on paper it seemed to be as harmless as _Levicorpus _which was more comical than anything else.

I couldn't imagine why Snape had left the book lying around, the man wasn't the careless type, as double agents can't afford to be, yet I had been able to steal the book during detention with him remaining none the wiser as far as I could tell.

Thankfully I was smart enough to figure out why the Half-Blood Prince's notes on potions were useful so I wouldn't actually need the book during lessons and while I hadn't been able to use the knowledge (since Snape would of known his own work) but I was going to ace potions next year.

Still more than once I'd wondered if Snape had purposely left the book where someone could find it. Was so that they could marvel in his genius, without ever knowing who had written the book? Or maybe he wanted some student to get into trouble using spells that he knew they could of only gotten from his book? Perhaps he even got some sort of sick pleasure from having his legacy passed on that way? Well whatever the reason was he hadn't caught me using his book and now he never would.

The book was also inspiring me to try and create a few spells of my own. Granted this wasn't a new idea with me as I'd quickly come to realise that that most magic used in fighting was mostly useless outside one on one duelling. Before deciding to write a few spells of my own I'd even checked out some of the older history books (ones that dealt with fighting muggles rather other Wizards and goblins) and I'd noticed a complete lack of spells that would harm a group of people that could be cast in a battle.

In fact I couldn't recall there being any such spells in the Harry Potter books and films either. Sure there were a hundred ways to main, kill and wound people even when using 'light' spells, as long as one was creative in their use, but there was nothing in the books I'd read that would be helpful in dealing with a group of people who need to, if not die, then at least be disabled.

This made me wonder if the real reason why magical people and creatures had gone into hiding was because muggles simply outnumbered them to such a degree that war between both groups would end in muggle victory simply due to them having such great numbers.

"Master Damien be wanting his picnic lunch now?" asked my House Elf who had bypassed the wards I'd set up so far so easily I sometimes wondered why I bothered but to be far if the castles' wards couldn't stop her mine didn't have a chance, so I'd simply stopped trying to keep her out of these meetings. Still it was rather humbling to have someone who spent most of their time either in the kitchen or washing your clothes bypass your magical protections with such ease.

Moving back over to the group I saw that my Elf had laid out an entire picnic in the same amount of time it had taken me to circle the area while waving my wand. That was rather impressive in my view considering that she would of needed time to heat the coffee pot and sandwiches don't make themselves. But everyone saw it as a normal, they seemed to have no idea just how powerful House Elves were. Nobody ever said thank you to an Elf (aside from myself and Luna) so I just hoped that that total lack of respect didn't one day come to bite us all in the ass

I went and sat on the blanket with the other Outcast members (although given that Hannah and Susan were quite popular the name didn't seem to be as appropriate as it use to) in order to join in with their discussion about what was going on at the school.

The big news these days was what had happened mere days ago involving Professors Lockhart and Snape. To everyone but Luna and I the whole thing seemed like a horrible accident but in reality that accident had been a combination of Luna's prophetic vision and my and my advanced spell work.

After Easter Luna had informed the the time to make a strike at Snape was close at hand. The curse on the position of the Defence Against The Dark Arts ensured that no one who took the job lasted more than a school year. As far as I could tell the curse did this buy making sure that by the end of the school year the teacher got incredibly unlucky.

In the Wizarding world luck was an active force. You could, if highly skilled, even brew a potion to give someone good luck and there were curses that would work to make sure someone was very unlucky. Just like the one Lockhart had been under the moment he'd taken the job.

Exactly how Voldemort's curse worked was unknown to anyone but him yet its effects could clearly be seen so I'd known that Lockhart's time teaching here at the castle would end badly. What mattered in the end was how badly his teaching careerer would end. But according to my research (which had involved asking the older students and the ghosts about who had been teaching the subject since from the 1970's up until now) very few Defence teachers had met a bad end on the job. Granted a few professors had been hurt or driven away for some reason or another but no one had actually died due to the curse since Potter's first year. Which made sense to me as it was the job that was cursed not the people doing it.

At its most simple the curse seemed to just make people more and more unlucky towards the end of the school year. I suspected that Potter's arrival at the school had somehow made the curse worse and if this was so then I had simply taken advantage of the situation to create a desired result.

"I still can't believe that Snape won't be back next year" commented Hannah who like Neville, Ginny and Susan hadn't been in on the plan.

Not that I had either really, not until it was actually in progress.

"I can't either" agreed her best friend Susan "Its great isn't it!".

My smile was well hidden but it didn't go unnoticed by Luna who didn't approved of me being happy about me following her plan. She'd only told me of how I could rid of Snape because she was worried I might go as far as to kill the sorry excuse for a human being.

"I never imagined that even Lockhart could be that clumsy" added Neville.

Sure that was it had looked but truth be told (not that it ever would) it wasn't just bit of bad luck that had gotten both men's memories wiped. In fact the whole thing was my fault really as if not for my actions none of it would have happened at all.

It had all started after my article had been published. Because of me Lockhart had changed his teaching methods. Knowing that simply acting out scenes from his book would add credence to what I'd pointed out about his book sales increasing drastically due to them being added to the school equipment list last summer, he'd stopped us from even reading them and tried to actually teach us something.

This had involved a few disastrous practical lessons with 'dark' creatures which had ended after one kid got sent to the infirmary due to somehow getting horrible burned while handling a creature that didn't breathe fire. Yet ironically during the lesson with the creature that breathed fire no one had gotten burned.

Then a few days ago my class had the dubious pleasure of getting to see Lockhart in action. There had been no duelling club like the one in the book but duelling practice was pretty much the only idea Lockhart had left so as a class we'd gone to the prepared space in order to see our teacher duel some first year Hufflepuffs who weren't very aggressive or that talented so even Lockhart could bet them.

However Professors Snape had joined us halfway through the lesson along with his second year potion class under the pretence of wanting to show his class how certain potions could be used to heal injuries a person could suffer when duelling. No doubt he'd actually been intending to show off by repetitively humiliating Lockhart, but that wasn't to be.

Before even counting to three Snape had disarmed Lockhart with such power that the Defence teacher's wand and the teacher himself had gone flying. Lockhart's wand landed between myself and Ron Weasly. Everyone had been distracted by watching Lockhart fly that they hadn't noticed his wand land right before me.

The ginger pat had noticed as the wand had nearly hit him in the eye and suddenly I knew why Luna had wanted to me to learn a rather advanced bit of magic called the switching spell. The red head never even noticed that he had handed over his own broken wand to the teacher while Lockhart's wand was still in other hand.

I'd always guessed that Luna saw possible futures and so I guess that the reason she had waited until now to tell me exactly how I could get rid of Snape was that those events might not have come to pass at all.

Without doing anything else but that switching spell I got see both Snape and Lockhart be taken out with one spell. It all happened so fast that I'm still not sure how it happened but what do recall is Snape summoning a snake (perhaps it was fated to happen as it could of exposed Potter's gift for speaking to them) but that didn't happen because Lockhart tripped over his own feet and somehow ended up face to face with the snake which freaked him out.

Naturally he fired off a spell to defend him, as who wouldn't when facing an animal that looked was about to bite, but since he only knew one spell that he could make work he tried to memory wipe the serpent. Not a smart course of action since the snake's urge to bite was built it rather than a reaction to any memory but people often panic when they face danger.

Sadly for the two men on the stage Snape banished the serpent in a rather dramatic fashion before Lockhart finished the spell as while Snape is a jerk he wouldn't allow his actions to harm another teacher (at least not with witnesses present) and this ensured that the spell intended for the snake hit the head of house who just about managed to put up a shield charm in time, deflecting the spell back at caster. Lockhart ,for once showing some skill with magic, performed his own shield charm.

The spell should of frizzled out doing no harm but since Lockhart was using Ron's broken wand rather than his own it happened to explode at that point. All of the students had backed off when seeing the snake so only the two teachers got caught in the magical green blast which led to both teachers having no idea who they were or where they were either.

Other people remember it differently than I do but in the end the only one who got into any sort of trouble was the ginger prat who still had Lockhart's wand in his hand when the other staff members appeared. Ron's own wand had vanished but given he had Lockhart's wand it was hard to pin two and two together.

Lucky for Ronald the prat everyone brought the excuse that he had simply handed Lockhart the wrong wand as he'd been holding as the time expecting that he would have duel someone as part of the lesson. No one thought that ginger idiot would do something like this on purpose as it was far more believable that he just made a mistake. After all Lockhart was an adult he should have been more careful and checked over his wand to make it wasn't damaged after it went flying from his hand.

But in the end it was ruled as a terrible accident. The ginger prat only lost house points for carelessness Dumbledore would have come to the truth had been able to read my true mind while asking me what I saw. I'd told him that I'd just seen Ronald pick up Lockhart's wand and give it back to the teacher. I was able to lie right to his face and Luna wasn't even asked given that she already had a reputation for not paying attention to her surroundings.

Slytherin house wasn't so far reacting too badly to losing their head of house. They already lost their team's Seeker and now with Snape gone I think they'd come to conclusion that they were in trouble.

And they were right to be a little worried 'Once is an accident. Twice is coincidence. Three times is an enemy action' after all and while we weren't up three 'attacks on Slytherin yet I could stand why the Snakes had decided to skip to part three and assume that they were under attack in some way. It wasn't such a bad assumption as despite the fact that they looked to be winning the House Cup this year they had otherwise been rather unlucky.

The rest of the school just saw it as karma. Snape was a bad person and he'd gotten his just deserts. He'd sat back and let the children that were suppose to be under his guidance and protection be bullied by the students he was most responsible for.

Ginny brought us all back to the present (as we'd all been thinking about that event) by voicing an opinion we all shared.

"Maybe we shouldn't do anything about Binns until next year it seems wrong given what happened to Snape and Professor Lockhart".

"That would be for the best" agreed Luna who still seemed rather depressed about her plan working.

"So what are we going to write about, then?" questioned Susan "I've got lots of gossip for the newsletter but we need some good stories like the one on Lockhart".

"We could set the record straight about what happened when he and Snape lost their memories" offered Neville "everyone at the school knows but the Prophet got it wrong. Their report doesn't even mention Snape by name. We should tell the world about Snape but not that he was a bad teacher we just mention that he was head of house and a potions master".

"It would be respectful" supported Luna

"I agree" I added "I'll write it. No mention of him favouring the snakes or that he used to be a Death Eater. Only the positive stuff".

Which was wasn't much but I could focus the article on this good qualities without actually lying. He had after all been a spell crafter and brilliant with potions so there must other achievements to speak of, and Lockhart's achievements were well known enough not to require research. I could write his fame and success with his book writing without lying. I'd have to be careful about what I wrote and about and how I got my research materials but I was sure that I could write something worth printing.

Luna asked me to take her for a walk before Tizzy served the pudding and once we were out of earshot she started talking. I had to stop her so I could cast another _muffliato, _once cast we could then talk freely.

"I hope it was worth it Damien" she said "it wasn't nice for me to guide you to do that".

I sighed before replying.

"I know you can see some of our futures but I know the past. Snape was a Death Eater and the fact that he was working for Dumbledore doesn't redeem him in the slightest. He still escaped justice for his crimes but at least now he can't hurt anyone else. Besides you did save his life as Snape wouldn't of survived the war to come and Lockhart was doomed anyway all you did was ensure that they can't hurt anyone else. And you stopped me from becoming a murderer because let's face it at some point over the next few years I would have killed him.

There was truth in what I said. I would not have put with his abuses for much longer. Nor could I of stood by and watched him abuse children and young adults without doing something about it. Luna helping me get his memory get wiped so that he would have to relearn everything was a mercy in comparison to what I might have done had she not shown me another way.

"Oh I found this taped to a letter from my current Daddy".

She passed me a letter, one from the Traveller, which explained more about what we would be doing this while school was out.

"So why did _your_ 'friend' write to me?" inquired Luna.

"I guess he figures your the brains of our little operation" I replied as I read over the letter.

Luna squeezed my arm playfully and said in a teasing tone of voice.

"So that makes you the brawn then but you don't have much muscle".

"Your comments wound me my lady" I said by way of reply in a mock hurt tone.

I re-read the letter again trying to make sense of it and then once more in order to try and find a way it could be explained to Luna.

"What does the letter from your Dad say?" I asked wanting to make sure she could actually come with me before I told her where we were going in a few weeks from now.

"That its okay for me to go with you this Summer as long I visit him before I go back to school"

I imagined that having an arranged marriage made it harder to say no to Luna's request for her to spend time away from him during the holidays given that Luna and I were suppose to marry and provide him with grandchildren to spoil it made sense for us to spend time together now. Well it made sense to me, Wizards had little common sense in my opinion so that might not be why he was letting his daughter go away with me. Given that

"So where are are we going?" she questioned "the letter made no sense to me and I can't see anything that clear about our trip either".

That was a little bit worrying. She normally knew more about what was going on than I did these days, at least about the future anyway. I knew more, a lot more, about the past than she did but what was to come was normally known by her. So either something was blocking her vision or what she was seeing made no sense to her. If I hadn't know exactly where we were going and have a good guess who we'd be staying with I'd be even more worried than I was now.

"Where going to the Discworld" I explained "its a very magical world that lies on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of turtle that flies through space. But to be precise we will be dropped off at a place called Lancre which is in the Ramtop Mountains. Once there we will be tutored in witchcraft by one of the locals.

"Oh okay" she replied.

Only Luna would accept something like this without totally freaking out or by refusing to believe that any of it was true.

"Apparently the Traveller will met us at King's Cross Station" I informed my partner in crime.

At least he wasn't coming to the school to pick us up, that was something to be thankful for. The last thing I wanted near a load of spell casters was a Cosmic Horror, although come to think it magic might actually hurt the Traveller he'd been contained once so he must of some weakness that or his jailer was something so powerful it made me look an ant in comparison.

"So whose going to be tutoring us?" inquired Luna.

"No idea" I answered "well actually I have a few ideas but I don't know who it will be".

When it came to being thrown into another reality by the Traveller one didn't just have to consider where they were going they also had to take into account when they would arrive. Time and space are playthings to the Traveller and whatever barriers or distances that existed between dimensions seemed to not matter either.

"Come on" urged Luna wanting to go back to the picnic rather than watch me muse about higher powers and what they could do "we'll miss pudding".

A Luna who missed pudding was not a happy camper so I left my deep thoughts about the Traveller and headed back to the food. I could worry about such things later for now I was going to hang out with my friends just like someone my age was suppose to.


	9. Chapter 9

**A W**

**This is a good pace for me. I do have a life outside writing fan fiction, granted not as much as I'd like but the research does eat up some of my time too. I spent hours going through wiki pages and digging through my Pratchett books in order to try and figure out how Wizard magic works on the Discworld. In the end I had to guess a bit and outright make some stuff up. I hope it works. **

**I don't think Gothic can be the Master of Death. As far as I am aware in order to get the wand you have to either steal it, kill the person who owns or at least disarm the current holder which is Dumbledore so it won't impossible to get the wand but it won't be easy. The stone won't be to hard to get the ring is the Horcrux not the stone so its just a matter of going the Gaunt shack. The cloak however is passed from Father to Son so I can't see how Damien can get it since he's Potter's son. **

**Selias **

**I mentioned that in this chapter. **

**Douchiesnacks**

**I remember you mentioning that before its nice to know that I'm easing your burdens **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Nine.**

**The Unseen University Ankh-Morpork. The Discworld.**

_Magic on the Discworld is very different to the magic back on Earth. _

This wasn't the first time that I'd had that thought in fact I was having that thought quite often these days. Especially during my lessons.

The lessons were interesting because Wizards treat magic like a science were as at Hogwarts its... well art is the best term I can come up with. Wand users like to show off how powerful they are by displaying great feats of magic using up as much energy as possible because they can. Staff Wizards (a term I had coined for them) can't do that because on the Discword Wizards have to deal with the fact that magic is a science and therefore it has rules.

One of those rules is referred to as _the conservation of reality_. Its sort of like Sir Isaac Newton's set of rules. But rather than say 'what goes up must come down' its more like 'if something goes up then something else has to go down' .

An example of this was if I were to use to my staff to levitate myself. With the staff I could go much higher than when using a wand spell to levitate but while the wand spell would just lift me up a few meters off the ground. However if I used my staff I could go much higher but I would cause something else to fall the same distance that I had gone up. So defying gravity with a staff spell meant that something else had to suffer gravity's wrath.

The rule _the conservation of reality _also applied when working with masses. It was pretty easy to transfigure an object into something that massed roughly the same but you couldn't transform an object into something that had greater mass than what you started with. Also if you wanted to transform an object into which massed a lot less than the object you had you couldn't but you could turn that object into lots of smaller objects that together equalled the same mass.

An example of this rather complex rule was shown in one lesson. I watched a Wizard transform a large cat into a small dog and then back again. This was rather draining for the Wizard in question but it had rather impressed the rest of class (It hadn't impressed me since I could transform into a fox cub which massed far less than I did and then transform back which totally disproved that rule but I didn't bring that up) . The teacher had then gone onto transform the cat into a number of mice which massed the same as the large cat. During the next lesson he turned a horse into a large flock of birds which didn't support his case as they were impossible to weight since they flew off and he got into trouble as horses aren't cheap.

Another example of Wizard magic I was shown was their version of teleporting. It involved exchanging an equal amount of mass in one location ,were the Wizard wanted to go, with the mass of the Wizard. Using the correct spell I could of in theory transported myself right back to Hogwarts (this Discworld turned out to be the same universe as the version of Harry Potter's world I was living on) but I'd end up replacing part of the mass of the school so a statue or possibly a student would end up at the point in space that I'd left. Or my atoms could be spread across half the Milky Way if I didn't do it right.

Performing magic isn't easy on the Discworld. I would of thought magic would be so easy here given how magical the flat world was. Perhaps it had something to do with reality of this place being so unstable. _The conservation of reality_ rule might be needed here in order to keep the reality of this world intact as unlike my native Earth , which makes sense at when compared to other parts of the universe we can see, this world could so easily fall apart.

That theory worried me as it meant that my wand magic might actually cause problems as it didn't obey the rules. With wand magic I could alter reality at whim without repercussions (unless I was careless enough to do something foolish like try to transfigure a body part) and during my lessons I'd realised that my wand magic made me a Sorcerer. This was bad as the last Sorcerer to enter the Unseen University had nearly destroy the Discworld.

A Sorcerer had next to no limits since he didn't need to use the magic around him he made his own magic (which I guessed was how I powered my wand magic since I never ran out so it must as a renewable source) Wand magic did have a few rules and limitations, not many but they did exist. However here on the Discworld those rules might not apply at all since like a Sorcerer I could make my own magic.

Which meant that I could quite possibly destroy the world either by destabilising the messed up rules of reality around here to the point where 'normal physics' took over and made the Discworld cease to exist. Or worse I could rip open a whole to the Dungeon Dimensions. Which are nasty places that contain Unspeakable Horrors of some sort (and after reading one books about them I really wished they were called Unprintable Horrors as well) which would flood into this universe like a tide washing away all existence. With this in mind it would be no surprise to discover that I was using my wand as little as possible.

There were, thankfully, types of magic that I could perform on the Discworld without having to worry about destabilising reality or dropping stones on people.

Ritual magic like summoning demons or even Death himself was actually rather easy. Summoning Death required more than one Wizard and wasn't to be done lightly but wasn't actually that hard. Demons were easy to summon and rather comical really. You had to be sure to keep them contained and to make the right offerings or it could go wrong but done right demon summoning was an excellent way to gather information as demons seemed to be more aware of what was going in a big picture sense.

Still as interesting and scary as it was to learn about a new kind of Wizardry I'd much rather have been learning Witchcraft with Luna in the Ramtop Mountains, and not just because it ran far less risk of me punching holes in the universe.

I'd thought that I would be learning Witchcraft along with Luna over in the Ramtops but that turned out not to be the case as Granny Weatherwax (who turned out to be the tutor the Traveller had set up for us) didn't think a Wizard (read male) could learn Witchcraft. There were male Witches, they were called Warlocks, but only a Warlock would teach a boy to use Witchcraft and since I had no idea how to find a Warlock I'd been told to take a mail cart to Ankh-Morpork. I hadn't even had anywhere to hang my hat for the night.

However I being a fan major fan of the Discworld books knew the local customs, so I had known that it was traditional not to turn up empty handed at a Witches' home empty. Before I'd left the school Tizzy had aided me in acquiring a bottle of Oak Matured Mead and some Honeydukes chocolate as well as a bottle Elf made wine (House Elves ran the Wizarding World's Vineyards down in Southern France) a bottle of which ended up going to Nanny Ogg who had decided to visit her friend at the time we were scheduled to arrive for reasons I never found out.

These gifts (along with the awesome power of a twelve year old boy's puppy dog stare method of begging) had gotten me a roof over my head for the night and a chance to learn the magical art of Borrowing. Before being sent off to Ankh-Morpork which the Traveller had accounted for according to his latest note.

Still I was glad I got to stay one night and learn the art of Borrowing as it had been something I had wanted to learn.

Borrowing is an awesome ability which allows a magic user to 'piggyback' their mind on to the mind of another. At my level all I could do was experience whatever it was the animal experienced while my mind 'piggybacked' this allowing me to share the creature's awareness of its surroundings. It was a great way to get a bird's eye view of an area without actually having to fly. The only hard part had been not letting my fear of heights led to bird I was borrowing crashing into a tree.

With practice (something I'd promised Mistress Weatherwax I wouldn't do until Luna learned enough to supervise my Borrowing) I would be able to direct the creature I was 'piggybacking' by subtly prodding to go somewhere I wished it to which would allow me to use the animal as a sort of living remote surveillance device. It would be great for spying on people or to investigate an area without risking my own hide.

I might just end up sticking with a crystal ball as it was a lot less hassle even if it wasn't as a cool as Borrowing. The Discworld crystal balls didn't see the future (at least not the ones made by Wizards) they were used to spy on people or at least the places the people you wanted to spy upon could be found. It was really difficult to spy on a moving target and you had to know what the place you were spying upon looked liked as well. If you had the knack for scrying you could locate a person on the move with a crystal ball but it was tricky.

Ironically despite the fact that the crystal balls were very expensive to make most Wizards outgrew the need for them quite quickly during their education. An experienced Wizard (something I wasn't) could use a mirror or even a bowl of water to scry for something. But since I had I only had a year of education in magic I did need such devices.

Staff magic was rather good with devices as using them avoided a lot of unnecessary effort and it avoided the risking of the fabric of reality, which was always a plus.

Getting a crystal ball (in fact I had a spare) hadn't been hard for me because when I arrived at the University they'd been expecting me. Apparently my 'benefactor' had arranged things for me so I'd been made a student and I'd been given... well half buried in everything a trainee Wizard would need.

I had, upon arrival, been presented with my official pointy hat. The University supplied hat was much more colourful than my school one ,which I'd never worn, yet it somehow suited me.

I'd gotten a Wizard's staff which admittedly was rather puny and small but according to my tutors it would grow as my power grew. That had been a literal statement it actually grew like it was still living wood albeit without spouting leaves or roots, two things wood needed in order to grow. This worked because it soaked up a Wizard's magic. Which I took to mean that a Staff Wizard either had magic some magic in him or that when he used the magic around him it passed through him and that some of it would be stored in his staff.

The staffs could also hold spells this allowed a Wizard to perform feats of magic without exhausting himself. For now all mine could do was shock people it was a nasty shock meant to make people think I could do worse and had been put into the staff due to thieves guild habit of mugging people as a way of welcoming them to the city.

No thief would attempt to rob an adult Wizard but I looked my age and therefore I'd looked like easy pickings. Or at least I would have had I not thrown my would-be muggers into the river. This being Ankh-Morpork the crooks had bounced rather than make a splash but the message had been sent. However they hadn't been guild members as guild members would of shown me their business cards before trying to take my goods and would have offered me the chance to pay a protection fee to avoid being robbed at that point or for a set amount of time into the future.

The actual guild had sent me a letter of apology for allowing a couple of amateurs to try and mug me (the guild members meant to mug me had been delayed that afternoon) they'd also waved my protection fee for the next few months as part of the apology. I guessed that they didn't want me throwing guild members into the river should I be robbed by card members of the guild as the river did have a habit of being on fire sometimes.

It also paid to be friendly to Wizard's in training because one day soon I'd be trained and given I could throw people of bridges using magic as a kid they'd figured out that I was just going to get more dangerous very quickly. It was so nice have organised crime with government oversight. It made things much more civilized.

The only negative to the whole situation upon my arrival was that I had been presented with Wizard robes and shoes. Men in my opinion should wear trousers and the shoes looked like something that should only be worn by character in pantomimes. Thankfully I was getting away with wearing the robes over jeans and a t-shirt. And I was very grateful that I could wear a belt as while I had a great metabolism my waist line just wasn't up to the sheer amount of food I was getting at the five daily meals served here.

Using magic, like any activity which required effort, taxed the body so magic users had to eat along. This was the reason for all the school feasts back at Hogwarts. It wasn't because Wand Wizards and Witches are greedy its because they use up a lot of energy in spell work. My weight was going up because I wasn't using any magic.

Staff Wizards are the same but some of the teachers here at the university don't do much actual magic as their work is more theory than practical, or sometimes non-existent given the way teaching is done around here. Which explains the lack of trousers there waist lines can't be contained.

This laziness and expanding waist lines was due to a tradition here at the university. The tradition was that anyone who passes the exams (of which there are many if you want to be a Wizard of rank but even you don't want to be a high rank you can still teach as Rincewind does) can become a teacher if they can find an office not in use and a subject not being taught.

However none of the teaching staff are actually required to teach student. Most of those who do are the younger and skinnier ones. But as far as I can tell very few of the teachers offer courses. Some of them are involved with legitimate research and a few do use their talents to aid the city. But mostly this just means that they have chairs on different committees and go to meeting to advise people who will ignore their advice. And to be fair the Wizards that try to teach are very good at what they do.

Still there's a great lack of actual teaching here so I can only assume that the exams are more Wizard general knowledge sort of things that test how much the students learn from reading books rather than from doing classwork. It would explain the amount of study periods on my time table, its mostly a schedule for meal times with a few hour long classes

I'd quickly come to understand that the point of the Unseen University wasn't to train young men to use magic its true purpose was to keep Wizards out of trouble. By keeping kept busy inside the University with giving or attending boring lectures, doing almost pointless research and sitting down to really big meals they couldn't be out in the real world causing trouble.

Its my suspicion that the Unseen University was set up a ancient and clever coven of Witches who wanted to keep men out of the whole business of using magic for productive purposes like helping people, but as of yet I have no proof of this.

Knowing this made me feel as if my time spent here was rather pointless. I could only just hope that Luna was doing something more worthwhile with her time.

**Lancre. The Ramtop Mountains. The Discworld.**

"Luna, dear what are you doing" inquired Nanny Ogg who was visiting Granny Weatherwax under some pretence in order to score more of the House Elf made wine.

Currently Luna was standing over Mistress Weatherwax with a paintbrush and was writing on a signboard the elderly Witch was holding while lying flat down on the bed.

"I'm correcting Granny's grammar" explained the blonde girl from Earth "It should say 'I AM NOT DEAD' rather than 'I ATE'NT DEAD'"

"Well as long as your using your time productively" replied Nanny Ogg before heading for the pantry to 'borrow' some wine.

**The Unseen University Ankh-Morpork. The Discworld.**

While sitting in some classroom I checked over my time table to see what lecture I had next (this was a bit hit and miss due to some of the Unseen University existing in different time zones then the others) I noticed that I was late (or possibly two hours early) for Professor Rincewind's 'class' on Dangerous and Unusual Geography.

Truth be told this 'class' was mostly about how dangerous this world was. Rincewind did offer some good advice on running away methods. These methods were rather effective when one is being chased by the likes of the Personification of Death or Lovecraftian Horrors from Dimension X. And he always told us never to underestimate the value of having half a brick in a sock on your person.

I didn't really need to worry about tending the lectures I was suppose to as there was no register for the students, as that would involve the teachers having to learn the student's names, so I found the room I'd go if not I'd find any lecture and just sit there while a voice somehow even more boring than Binns droned on giving me plenty of time to read. Some students napped during lectures but I didn't as naps were taken into account on my schedule.

If I couldn't find any lectures to sit in on I'd head to the library. It was fun in the library as the Librarian seemed to like me I guessed this was because I had for a short time been a librarian myself. I could also understand everything the Librarian said to me.

This was because the Traveller had enchanted the fox head amulets all the Outcasts wore but since Luna and I didn't need our amulets to give us mental defences he'd made it so our amulets allowed us to understand any form of communication and to be understood by others. Which didn't mean that I could speak orang-utan it just meant that I understood what the Librarian meant when he made an Oook noise. That wasn't so strange here but anywhere else the fox head amulet would be an impressive tool.

Using one of the few wand spells I dared I got my wand to point me in the direction of the library and headed for the only library in the known universe that advised you to take camping equipment with you when you went browsing for something to read before bed. I could use the point me spell so I didn't bother and if things got really bad Tizzy would save me.

The first time Tizzy had turned up here on the Discworld had been a major surprise for me as I hadn't imagined that House Elves could travel through space (and possibly time) like that. I'd questioned the Elf to try and find out how she did it hoping that I could learn to do the same but she had no idea how she did it. All she could tell me was that House Elves go where their master or mistress need them to and that they can find their master or mistress when called no matter where (and possibly when) they are. But that didn't stop me from wondering how the heck Tizzy had travelled light years to get to the Discworld.

I'd been tempted to try and send Tizzy off to somewhere else like say the Lost City Of Atlantis which had been destroyed by a magical catastrophe of some sort but that seemed foolish as there was no sense in putting the Elf in danger. Still it was nice to know that I had a way to get home no matter where in this magical universe I was.

Using the point me spell again I finally made it to the library and after only half an hour of wandering around I found the front desk.

"Oook!" greeted the Librarian.

"Morning, Librarian. How are you today" I replied.

It always paid to be polite to apes that could rip your arm off and beat you to death with the soggy end.

"I'm looking for spell books" I told the hairy animal after exchanging pleasantries "I want to try memorising a few spells".

You couldn't learn staff magic spells the traditional way. It was a bit like D&D magic in that a Wizard memorised spells only you never had to re-memorise the spell as the spell stayed in your head forever in fact to make room for more spells you had to use a spell to make you forget the spells already in your head.. That alone was enough to put me off the whole thing but I'd decided that it would be a good idea to insert a few spells into my head as they might come in handy one day

Spells took up a lot of what was called mindspace which had nothing to do with memory per say it was just that there was a limited amount of room in a person's head to store spells. The more complex the spell the more room it took up. Rincewind had one of the eight spells used to create the Discworld in his head and it prevented him from storing any others in there due its complexity, or at least that was how I understood it to work.

I also understood that the more powerful and more experienced a wizard got the more mindspace he had. I might be powerful but I didn't have experience so that was why I wasn't going to risk trying to store a few dozen spells in the old noggin.

Even simple spells could take up a lot of room hence why I wouldn't be risking more than three maybe four spells. The reason why even simple spells like say a spell to create a fireball took up so much room was that it wasn't just a matter of making a ball of fire appear in your hand so you could throw it. You had to be able to form the fireball safely. Then you had to not get your hand horribly burned by the fireball. The fireball also had to stay intact when you threw it and then not stay intact when it something. And it got more complex if you wanted a fireball that would do the moving part for you and even change course to hit a moving target.

Given the sheer complexity of just having a spell for a fireball it was easy to understand why these Wizards used staffs. It was much easier to simply hit people with a big piece of heavy wood. It was much better to have as few spells as possible because you might need to fill your head with new spells quickly so not bothering with offensive spells was a good idea.

However I was going to fill my head with spells since I wouldn't need the spells used to pass exams or perform party tricks down the pub like the older students.

At least learning the spells didn't prevent you from performing the rituals I'd learned here nor would they stop me from learning more wand magic as the spells from the books here were more like living creatures you could play host to rather than information to be learned.

"Oook" said the ape.

"I'll be careful" I promised "I know I should wait but I won't be here much longer. This is just a summer trip to me I have to go back to Roundworld".

"Oook?" the Librarian asked.

"No its not that Roundworld mine had magic on it".

I was somewhat worried about the version of Earth under Hex's protection. The magical AI seemed to be looking after a version of Earth that could be the version of Earth that I was born on but its not the Earth I live on now as it lacks magic and Narrativium.

Narrativuim is an element present in what people from my world would call fictional universes its the cause of Narrative Causality which is why all fictional universes work as stories. The reason why things happen in stories is because the plot says they should. Reality bends to the whims of the story because these things need to happen. It applies in the Wizarding World to. The hero will defeat the big bad. The girls gets the boy she's crushed on since forever. And so on and so.

On the Discworld Narrativuim is a measurable force governed by rules everyone seems to know. I haven't quite figured out how to use these rules my advantage but I'd at least gotten to the point were I'm not surprised by the weirdness going on around me.

"Oook" stated the keeper of books. "Oook oook oook, ook ook".

"Don't worry I don't need the chalk" I assured as I walked off "I'll try to follow your direction, and thanks".

What a nice primate to talk to and he was rather handy with the directions as he knew all the shortcuts, including the ones than involved walking past shelves of book that were in other libraries some of which weren't even on the Discworld. L-shape was strange that way.

After navigating a series of book shelves I got chased by a rather hungry looking dark arts tome until I bumped into roving band of older and very feral students who took the old book down with some well placed jabs of their spears. In thanks I pointed them to the way and carried on heading to the location the ape facility member had hold me about. The point me spell came in very handy as I could simply name the place I was going even if I didn't what it was.

In the end my trip led me back to the front desk only I was now behind the front desk now in a part of the library that even its caretaker had trouble reaching due to the massive piles of books blocking the way. Had I tried to climb over the books to get here thinking that it would be easier I would have surely needed an oxygen mask.

The Librarian joined me and took me to a collection of books most of which were chained down. A measure taken not to prevent theft but to save lives. These books were far more horrible than the dark tomb that had chased me. That book had really been no more dangerous than Hagrid's Monster Book Of Monsters.

With a mighty whack the Librarian made the largest of the black leather books calm down and started to undo the chain.

"What spells are in these books?" I asked wondering what sort of black arts could be contained within them.

"Oook".

Necromancy, Demoniac Summoning and Archchancellor's extra hot curry recipes. Very dark arts indeed.

"Oook".

The book I was going to read was on war magic, nasty stuff not really evil just very dangerous. I could tell that by the fireball spell the furred creature was pointing to. It sounded nasty and something people would underestimate given that the illustration made it look like I'd be throwing a spark rather than something that had the effect of going off like a grenade. It didn't say grenade as that word meant nothing to the author of this war magic compendium but the effects were pretty much the same only the 'grenade' could be thrown like a dart.

"Oook".

"Maybe something a little less advanced would be better" I agreed.

Pages were turned and I found one that I liked.

"Flaming Sphere" I read out "a sphere filled with flame that will burn safely until the sphere is broken. The caster of this spell can direct the sphere to its target and if directed with enough force the protective sphere will break unleashing the flame in an energetic burning attack".

Weaker than the first spell I'd read but it sounded a lot safer. Whatever its counter effect was would be less extreme as well.

"Oook?".

"Yeah that looks good" I answered "I don't want to be found lacking a good offensive spell if my wa... staff is ever taken from me".

"Oook Oook".

"I'm to young to drink". I pointed out.

"Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook Oook"

I'd forgotten that there was no such thing as a teenager on worlds like this. You were either a child or an adult and since I was an apprentice Wizard I was an adult in the eyes of the law. Plus it helped that I looked older than I was as long as I acted older.

"Oook Oook?"

I considered what to say before replying.

"Maybe, it really depends on the flow of time here at University. I have to get my betrothed back to her Father before the Summer holidays end. She's suppose to met me in Pseudopolis at the end of the week. So we can catch a lift. I wanted to check at Braseneck College before we went home so I need to get there the day before we leave".

It wouldn't take to long to get to Pseudopolis but I was little worried about getting there after a night on the town. I hadn't risked apperating on the Discworld but Tizzy should be able to get me there.

"Oook!"

"Your right its only one pub. Had bad could a place called the Mended Drum be".

Despite having said that something at the back of mind was nagging at me. The name of the pub sounded awfully familiar

"Oook"

"Oh no I can't sing or play the guitar".

"Oook Oook"

"There's a spell to that let's you play any instrument you want perfectly for a couple of hours. I'm surprised it didn't get used during that whole Soul Music thing".

"Oook" the Librarian explained.

I laughed loudly at that it had been rather clever for him to do that.

"Oh okay then guess it could come in handy".

I had no musical talent so that seemed like a good spell. I'd risk three so as long as my third spell was something defensive it would be okay to learn this guitar hero spell.

"Oook" offered the simian

"Sure but take it slow" I requested as I climbed on his back "I have a fear of heights".

With grace and agility an Olympic gold medal winner in gymnastics would envy the orang-outang leapt on top of a book shelf and carried me off deeper into the library at great speed. I should have appreciated the lift but all I could was scream.

"AHHHHHH!"


	10. Chapter 10

**douchiesnacks **

**You should read some discworld stuff its good. I read a good Harry Potter/Discworld crossover on this site give it a look it should ease you into Pratchett's work. **

**Just A Question **

**I will get back to my other stories I just to focus my efforts on this one for now. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Ten.**

**The Hogwarts Express. Platform Nine And Three Quarters. The Wizarding World. **

As Luna sat down after storing her backpack in the overhead compartment she turned to me and said.

"We met here exactly one year ago".

She said it rather matter of factly as if she was just telling me of an interesting observation that she had made but knowing women as I did ( which wasn't well but I knew enough to get by) this would be a big deal for her so I gave her a hug to show how much I cared.

Thinking about I figured that it was a big deal. We'd been best friends for a whole year and we'd spent quite a lot of that year together. With my family a whole universe away and Luna only having her absent minded Father we were all either of us had. Sure we had friends but with the secrets we both had we were more emotional distant from our friends than it seemed. Still we had each and that was what mattered.

A hoot drew my attention to the window and I saw an owl tapping on the window. I let the bird in and it dropped off an old issue of the Daily Prophet rather than the letter from the Traveller that I thought it would be.

SIRUS BLACK STILL AT LARGE!

Well that explained why the Traveller had sent this paper to me. It was both a source of information and a warning about the events of the coming year. Black would be breaking into the school over the course of the year which would make having Outcast meetings very difficult. Thankfully my House Elf would ensure that the Outcast paper got spread around but if the school was in lockdown fewer people would get to read it. And there was one other issue to deal with this year.

"Dementors" I muttered in a voice as cold as winter.

Luna looked up and her face showed me that she shared my concern over the soul sucking demons.

"You can drive them away Damien" she assured "but be careful many people will think your a Dark Wizard unless you act like the Dementors affect you as much as other people".

Luna could see possible futures and the closer an event was the more certain she was of what would happen. At least as long it involved events on this world. She'd told me that on the Discworld she'd had no visions at all. But we were back home now and it was almost one hundred certain that the Dementors would interrupt this journey if she was seeing it clearly enough to know what the ramifications were.

While I was pretty sure that I could drive the souls sucking demons away the bit about ramifications did worry me. If the Dementors didn't effect me the same way as everyone else then I would be thought off as a Dark Wizard because only Dark Wizards can remain unaffected in the presence of Dementors. Most Wizards were close minded bigots in my experience so they wouldn't even consider that there might be another reason for being unaffected by the wardens of Wizarding Britain's prison.

I was also wondering why I wouldn't be effected by the Dementors I wasn't a Dark Wizard and I could experience sadness and despair so why wouldn't I be affected the same way as everyone else.

If Luna had answers she wasn't sharing she was just reading her magazine upside down again like she did when her mind was off examining the time line. It must be so strange to be able to see the future like that I couldn't imagine not existing in the present at all times.

As the train pulled out of the station I took my seat and started to read the paper. There wasn't much about Black in here but that wasn't surprising nearly everyone knew who he was anyway.

The rest of the paper contained less important news none of which made any sense to me and I ignored the adverts out of habit. Still I had to admit that some of the stories in here made me laugh even if I didn't understand why any of these events had happened.

There was one rather amusing article about some rabbit breeders who had been horrible mauled by a bred of rabbit a Wizard had created. It sounded like some of should of lent them The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch it was a good for getting rid of killer bunnies.

Also there was a report about Lockhart and his recovery. Apparently the writer was recovering well considering his memory wipe and the paper hadn't forgotten Snape this time.

Reading that report made me want to ask Luna something.

"Any idea who is teaching potions this year?" I asked.

"I don't know who is just that he's big and jolly, and that your going to get on with him. I keep seeing him eating a lot but that's about it, oh he's going to steal from Professor Sprout".

Must be Slughorn then. That or a version of Santa Claus who really loved plants was going to be teaching this year.

It made sense that it would be Slughorn. Dumbledore could of used Potter to get him out of retirement and he'd be a logical choice to head the snake house as well. That or there was another potions master out there who liked to eat too much and didn't mind stealing from greenhouses.

If it was Slughorn I'd have to remind Neville about selling a few cuttings from his rare plants. No doubt there was money to be made in supplying potion ingredients Nev would know the value of what he was selling so he would be able to avoid getting ripped off.

The newspaper got dull after a while so I took out the Half-Blood Prince book. I had most of the modified instructions memorised by now but I was still trying to understand why some of the modifications worked as well as they did. More than once I'd thought I'd gotten it all figured out but I'd been wrong.

Of course my lack of true understanding hadn't stop me from trying to improve on Snape's work. Neville had plants you couldn't normally get outside of the Amazon jungle and I had wondered if using some of those plants would improve the potions but it was tricky to find a plant with all the same magical properties as its more common British counterpart. I had some cuttings and seeds but I was going to have a few disasters before I created any modified recipes of my own.

Given that my recipes would just be more expensive versions of existing potions I doubted that I could make a profit from them but if nothing else I'd get a good grade. Perhaps I reverse the process and find more common versions of plants to replace rare parts. I'd have to ask Nev about that he would know.

I spent a little time going over my homework again while wondering if Gillyweed could be liquidised and then turned into some sort under water breathing potion. Gillyweed was tough to eat and being able to drink it in potion form would make it so much easier to make use of the plant.

I'd have to ask Slughorn although I'd have to be careful he might steal the idea and try to pass it off as his own. But if it worked he might be able to get us a patent for it, assuming the Wizarding World made use of such things.

A polite knock at the door jarred me out of scheming and I got up to open the door to find an out of breathe first year with a bundle of letters. I must of hit a growth spurt the boy looked tiny despite only being a year below.

"Damien Mason?" asked the kid.

"That's me" I said by way of reply.

"This is for you".

A letter was passed to me and once I read it I had to sigh. The Slug Club was already forming and I was being invited. I hadn't anticipated this but it could be a good thing I guessed, the Slugclub tended to be made up of Witches and Wizards who Slughorn thought would go far so I could make some good contacts for the future as part of this club.

I just wished I knew why I was being invited to join. As far as I knew there wasn't anything about me that would draw Slughorn's interest. I'd done well on my exams but not incredibly well and I didn't have any famous and still living relatives. Most of my accomplishments were unknown to anyone on this world other than Luna so unless Slughorn knew something about me he shouldn't I couldn't think of any reason why he'd invite me into the club.

Checking the time I realised that the meeting was in a few moments. Slughorn hadn't given his guests much time to prepare.

I took a few seconds to decide if I was going to go or not before deciding that I would attend if only to find out why I had been invited.

Taking out a few gold coins I passed them to Luna and reminded her to buy plenty of chocolate for later. The after effects of the Dementor's search would be a lot of scared children so I might need to feed them some chocolate to avoid having to travel in a train full of crying children.

Fining Slughorn compartment wasn't hard. It seemed have been reserved in advance and expanded as well or it could have been two or three compartments side by side. With Wizards stuff like that is hard to tell due to the fact that internal space didn't have to match external space. Hogwarts was many times bigger on the inside than it was the out.

Knocking on the door I was asked to enter and I found myself inside some sort of posh dining room. Even the roof was higher than it should be I could tell because you normally couldn't fit a candle lit chandelier inside a train compartment.

"Ah Damien please take a seat" instructed the walrus shaped Slughorn who was sitting at the head of the table like a king overlooking his court.

As I moved to sit down my eyes scanned the room looking for familiar faces. Potter was here of course and I wasn't surprised to see that my seat was next to Susan Bones quite close to Slughorn. Neville was sitting opposite me but I didn't know anybody else. I assumed that they all had important parents and such.

"For those of you who don't know this is Damien Mason heir to the Mason and Malfoy family fortunes".

Say what now.

"I'm sorry Professor" I apologised while trying not to be freaked out about the Malfoy connection "I didn't know I was an heir to anything".

Slughorn seemed surprised.

"You must of known that the Mason family fortune was rather large my boy".

I nodded in reply and said.

"Well yes but I didn't know anything about the Malfoy part".

"It was mentioned loads in the papers" informed Susan who utilised all media form in order to gather information for gossip.

Ah that explained why the Traveller's Owl had delivered the newspaper. It must be mentioned I'd have to re-read the paper and find any articles.

"I was away all Summer" I explained "I just back into the country a few days and I didn't even know about Sirius Black escaping until this morning".

Slughorn seemed to be delighted that he would get to explain the news to me.

"Then I must be the one to inform you that the Malfoy family no longer exists. After your second , or was it third, cousin Draco Malfoy died it seems that things became strained in the Malfoy house hold. Narcissa divorced Lucius, no doubt the grief drove her to such madness, and Lucius took to the bottle. According to the Prophet he fired his staff as well and then blew himself up while trying to cook. Since Narcissa left Lucius ,denouncing both the Malfoy and Black name, and with Draco already having passed on the family fortune would passed to the Blacks only they are all either dead, on the run or in prison".

Nice extended family I had there. Draco was, had been, my second cousin or some such so in this world I was distantly related to the Malfoys, the Blacks and a lot of other Death Eaters. How joyous.

"Gringotts had a devil of time working out who should inherit. Most Pureblood families are interrelated down the generations so the Malfoys had lots of distant cousins and such but the Mason family was the closest family to the Malfoys aside from the Blacks and of course the Potters. So young Harry over here would of inherited the lot if it weren't for the fact that your Great-Grandmother was a Malfoy".

Knowing that made me feel more greasy for some reason.

"Which means that upon your seventeenth birthday you will become one of the richest men in the country and the most sort after bachelor. Aside from Mr. Potter that is whose fame tips the scales in his favour. But you'll still by far the richest student in the school".

"Luna Lovegood already has her mark on him" Susan told the group "they have an arrangement but he doesn't have a girlfriend".

If Susan had been a guy I'd of thumped the red head for that remark. I was already getting predatory looks from the two older girls at the table. Given womankind's ability to transmit information via gossip faster than the speed of sound should allow by the time we were sitting down for the welcome feast at school every person in a skirt would know I was technically unattached and also very rich. Not that I had access to the money yet, but I would before leaving school.

My arranged marriage didn't require me to stay single or even a virgin for that matter so all the girls at school would know that they could be the girlfriend of the wealthiest guy around. Also since it was a verbal agreement it wasn't legally binding so all the girls in the school would also be thinking that I could still end up marrying someone else if I had a good enough reason to.

Hopefully none of them would try to make any sort of play for the girlfriend position for a year or two. I doubted any of the girls looking to snag a rich husband would try anything until I was older but that wouldn't stop them from trying to make friends with me now so they would be in place later to make a play for the post of girlfriend.

Right now any effort a girl made would be pointless as I just didn't have the emotions needed to form a romantic connection but that wouldn't be true in a year or two. I'd have to start checking for love potions if anyone got me any gifts.

I pushed those thoughts aside for now and tried to look as if I wasn't concerned by tucking into the food set before me. Slughorn introduced to some other students some of which I might be meeting again should they make it into the Slug Club. I got the feeling that my membership wasn't in question in fact I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to refuse.

Not that I would refuse membership if offered. It would be a good idea for me to start making contacts if I was going to live in this world for the rest of my life. Granted it sounded as if I was going to be wealthy enough not to have to work for a living but simply lazying around for the rest of my life would get dull and I doubted the Traveller would let me do bugger all with the new life he had given me.

For a while everything was mindless chatter and good food. I didn't mind the food (the peasant was rather good) but I really found it hard to focus on the discussions. It was clear that Slughorn was picking out those he wished to groom for success that he could benefit from and I should of paid attention to what he was saying since gaining his patron might be important to whatever plans I came up with later but I spent most of the time staring out of the window waiting for the dark to come.

When the train started to stop I quickly excused myself saying that I wanted to check on Luna (Much to the annoyance of the two older girls at the table). Taking out my wand I used to _Lumos _spell to create some light as by the time I got to Luna it was dark beyond what the mere setting of the sun should bring about.

I told Luna to stay inside the compartment but she didn't listen and then she told me to remember to act scared. I didn't need to be told that I was scared. A group of soul eating demons were boarding a train full of children this could all so easily turn into a disaster or worse a massacre.

I really wish that I'd been able to find a spell that would be effective against a Dementor while at the Unseen University but they didn't exist on the Discworld and I didn't have any sort of demon vanquishing spells either.

So I just had to hope that my silver fox would be enough. Luna had her bunny but it was a small wisp of a thing which faded fast. Neither of us had been able to practice on a real life Dementor either.

The door to the compartment open and I got my first look at a Dementor. Black, ugly death summed them up nicely. The air chilled and the moister froze leaving ice on the windows. The demons left me feeling sad but I didn't feel that unhappy I was to full of determination to feel despair.

I sent my silver fox down the corridor and while it made no noise I could see its mouth moving like it was making yapping noises or perhaps even barking, but while I couldn't hear anything the Dementor didn't seemed to like the fox's barking. The dark creature fled and I directed my fox up the corridor to where Luna's rabbit or possibly a hare was protecting her but it wasn't able to drive the demon away.

My fox never got the chance as a large ball of brilliant white light overwhelmed the Dementor and sent it running to whatever dank, dark hole it had called out from. The light had been so bright that it took Luna and I a few seconds to stop blinking a few more seconds before we could see anything at all.

Then a shabby looking man with pale skin and haunted eyes spoke to us.

"So it was you two who provided the Fox and the Hare"

We both nodded in reply.

"That was very advanced magic" Lupin stated "what houses are you in?"

"Ravenclaw" we both replied.

"Twenty points each to Ravenclaw" rewarded the teacher "and I'll speak to the Headmaster about this. Your actions protected the younger students and you both kept cool heads in a crisis".

Luna beamed a smile at Lupin but I remained unaffected by the given reward and praise. Mostly because House Points don't mean anything to me but also because I was worried about Dumbledore taking notice of me. Also this event would just draw more attention to me as it would just add to the interest I would be getting due to my new fortune.

Lupin seemed to pick up on my lack of jubilation but thankfully he attributed it to the effects of the Dementors.

"You'll feel better if you eat some chocolate. Professor Slughorn has a supply he is passing around to the students most effected. I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving some to the two heroes of the hour".

"I have loads of chocolate" declared Luna who had somehow made a bar of the stuff appear by magic quite possibly by using actual magic "I'll make sure he eats some".

Luna then skipped away which made Lupin give her an odd look.

"Don't worry she always acts like that" I assured the teacher before following the dotty blonde back to our compartment.

"Well that went well" I remarked once the door was closed.

"Yes very" agreed Luna "no one knows your a Dark Wizard they will instead think your a hero".

"Wait since when was I a Dark Wizard?" I asked

I agreed that I wasn't a hero since I'd driven the soul eaters off to protect myself and Luna but calling me a Dark Wizard was a bit harsh.

"Well it doesn't mean your evil" assured Luna "but you are pretty dark. You work in the shadows to plot and scheme, and you did destroy two people's minds when you could of just as easily saved them. And the Dementors didn't effect you like they should".

Okay fair points I was dark but I wasn't evil. Was I?

I mused on this for a while and just figured it really depended on people's points of view and Luna didn't seem to care if I was a bit dark as you don't tend to feed Dark Wizards chocolate. Well Luna might.

The train started moving again and I figured that it wouldn't take us to long to get to the school as the train was moving much faster now as if to make up for lost time.

In fact the locomotive went so fast I wondered why it took all day to get to the school but I quickly realised that the traditional train ride to Hogwarts had next to nothing to do with transporting a group of children to school. It was in fact just a means to keep us all out of the way for most of the day while the teacher did all the last minute organising.

Thinking on that I realised that the entire Hogwarts experience seemed to be about getting the kids mostly out of the way during their teenage years. Given the floo network and the things like the Knight Bus it actually wouldn't be to much trouble for the students go home every weekend but they were left at the school by their parents. I found that rather depressing.

"Nearly there now" commented Luna "we should get changed".

As was typical Luna behaviour she got changed right in front of me without a care in the world so I did to since I was comfortable around the young Seer.

Soon the train was pulling into the station and Luna and I were heading into the school for another year at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author Note:**

**Where are my reviews? Come on people I need your input. Fan fiction writers are fuelled by reviews. They are badly needed. I provide this work for free you know!**

**War Sage **

**Thank you its nice to be appreciated. **

**douchiesnacks **

**If all goes to plan there should be a lot more. Not sure if there'll be as many chapters for this year as there was for the last as I do really want to speed things up so we can get to the sex, action and evil bits. **

**I used ten chapters just to get from one start of year train ride to the next I never intended that many and I don't think it will happen again. **

**It's a bit mad this fan fic. Its going from one scene to the next without any proper planning. I normally at least have an outline for my fics but for this I didn't. I planning this chapters while loading the dishwasher for crying out loud. **

**Anyway enough ramblings from this crazy writer. Igor get me the plans this fan fic must live!**

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 11. **

**The Room Of Requirement. Hogwarts School. Scotland. **

_Expulso!_

A burst of blue light left my wand and blasted the practice dummy to bits. Then with a lazy twirl of my wand I repaired the dummy and watched it come back together until it looked as if I had never fired the curse at all.

"Cool" commented Neville "but why are we learning to blow stuff up, Damien?

"Yeah the Snakes are being well behaved for once" supported Ginny "and you said that Black might not the murderer he seems to be".

I sighed and wondered if I should become a Dark Lord just to avoid having followers who ask to many questions, but I dismissed the idea as a silly one if no one asked questions how I would show how smart I am?

"Black could still be dangerous" I explained to the group "he spent over a decade in prison with the Dementors all around him. I don't think he's actually guilty but he could be crazy".

A collective shiver passed through the room as the Outcasts imagined having to be near the soul suckers for years on end.

"And if he is crazy and going after Harry Potter than you two might be in the line of fire" I reminded the two Lions.

They both gave me puzzled looks and I realised that the expression 'line of fire' had to with getting in the way of bullets.

"I mean you guys might get caught between Potter and Black" I clarified.

Neville, Ginny and Luna were Purebloods who had little knowledge of the Muggle world and its expressions because unlike me they had been raised in what was really another civilization. It was easy to see Purebloods as ignorant or stupid for not knowing stuff about Muggles but Muggles in general didn't even know that magical folk were real.

"So we might need to take Black down" figured Neville.

I nodded.

"Right Nev. And Black could be still be guilty even if the evidence doesn't add up".

This was alternative universe after all I couldn't take too much for granted. Events and people could be quite different from the mainstream version. My friends certainly were.

"It seems to add up to me" insisted Gin "lots of Muggles saw what happened and they had no reason to lie. Black was the Secret Keeper he betrayed the Potters to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He must have otherwise You-Know-Who could never have found Godric's Hollow".

It was on the surface of things pretty black and white. Eye witnesses on the scene had reported what Wormtail had said to Black. People had been told that Black was the Keeper (in order to protect Wormtail ironically) and the Blacks were a well known 'dark' family also Sirius' brother was a well known Death Eater so it all made sense to the Wizards and most Muggle detectives would agree, at least I thought so.

"He never had a trail" I pointed out "they just tossed him into jail without even bothering to question him".

Nev and Gin exchanged glances. They both trusted me but I could tell that they thought I was grasping at straws here.

"There's just something about Black that doesn't make sense" I said trying to convince them of my point of view "why come after Potter now he's been a the school for a couple of years so why didn't he escape sooner"

Luna was remaining quiet but Ginny and Neville expressed their opinions loudly.

"He's a Dark Wizard!" they shouted "he used Dark Magic to escape!"

I could see why science was never studied by Wizard kind. Witches and Wizards just accepted things. They didn't question things enough.

Any Muggle with half a mind would be asking 'what Dark Magic spell did he use?' and if asked why they wanted to know the muggle would say 'so we can make sure nobody else is able to escape the same way' But logic and magic rarely went together it just didn't seem to work that way.

I really needed some open minded Muggleborn friends but sadly my efforts to make one seemed rather pointless as even Granger seemed to accept that Black was a Dark Wizard who used Dark Magic to escape his confinement.

It was such a shame to see a brilliant mind like that go to waste but the blow was softened by the fact that Luna and I were now the top students in the school.

We'd discovered this when the exam results were posted in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Unlike the other Houses the Claws cared about how the whole House was doing not just in comparison to the other Houses but also compared to the students who had taken the same exam last year.

Luna and I were both not only ahead of where Granger was last year we'd actually beaten everyone in overall scores for our year. Luna had beaten me in Charms, Transfiguration and Astronomy but I'd beaten her in Herbology (mostly thanks to Neville and his greenhouse lectures) as well as Defence, Potions and History. So I won by one class but I'd failed flying so it was declared a draw over all.

It could have been worse The Defence and Potion exams had nearly been cancelled due to the teachers of those two subjects having been memory wiped but it seemed that this version of Hogwarts had better management as an outside exam board had been called in to deal with the exams for those two subjects like they did for all the OWL and NEWT exams. If they hadn't Luna would have wiped the floor with me in terms of grades.

Overall the exams for both subjects had been rather low scoring for everyone (not that anyone was surprised) aside from the Outlaws who I noticed had rather high defence scores. I only got a high potion score because of the Half-Blood Prince Book. Many might consider me using that book as cheating but really it was no different from if I simply researched the subject by reading a Potion's Master notes. Actually in a roundabout sort of way that was what I had done.

Unfortunately these high scores combined with my actions on the train and the fact that I was now the richest bachelor in Britain had drawn a lot of attention towards me.

Teen Witch Weekly (the version of Witch Weekly aimed at teenage girls) actually had me down as the man to snag and I'd somehow won their junior award for best smile or some such rubbish despite the fact that they had no photo of me smiling.

Worse was the fan mail that stuff made me want to change places with Potter because he never got fan mail. Someone must be screening his post and I was wishing they would do the same for me.

One of these days I'd have to ask him how he dealt with fan mail it would at least be a laugh when he realised that he should have fan mail because I was just the flavour of the month he was actually famous for doing something.

I'd gotten a few requests from parents wanting to marry their daughters. Oddly one person had offered me an arranged marriage to their son which was strange because while gay marriage was illegal in the Wizarding World. It wasn't illegal to be gay it was just sort of frowned upon and rarely mentioned. No actually prejudice as far as I could tell it was just ignored.

I most certainly wasn't gay I'd seen enough photos of naked and nearly naked women to test my sexuality. Much to Luna's displeasure.

Thankfully the Wizarding World had a Victorian mindset so even the nude images were tasteful nudes rather than anything pornographic. Wizard porn was rather softcore the most scandalous thing I'd seen was a nude ballet dance. Magical photos moved so the ballet dancer did some interesting things with her legs but compared to what I'd seen on the internet it was all more erotic than outright pornographic.

What hadn't been tame was the fact that there had been photos of girls much too young to showing of their bodies in with some of the letters. I'd felt great levels of disgust as its one thing for a woman to try and get a man's (or even boy's in my case) attention by showing him what he could have in bed with him its a totally different thing for parents to make kids not much older than me do it. If it weren't for the fact that the Wizarding World lacked social services I'd still be writing letters to them now.

As it was it had taken me days to reply to all the letters telling people that I was taken but that I would keep them in mind should my situation change. I'd returned the photos I didn't want to keep but for the pictures I'd kept I'd added my thanks as it was polite thing to do.

Neville had been a big help with all that. He'd explained that had I a magical guardian he or she would of dealt with this and that people would of met with the guardian to get their permission before writing to me or more likely anyone that the parent or guardian approved of would of met me at some social function. But lacking anyone to look out for I'd ended up being nearly murdered by an irate flock of post owls.

At least it wouldn't happen again. Neville's grandmother had written to me explaining that she would act as my proxy for this matter as well. Few people would cross Lady Longbottom and try the photographic seduction route again.

If only the Wizarding World had lawyers I would love to sue people for this sort of thing but that particular evil had spared Wizard kind its presence so I couldn't do anything. Even I did have a lawyer it might not do me any good as I didn't even know if there were laws against child pornography in this society and if there were laws there was no social services to deal with these issues anyway.

In fact from what I understood most crime breaking only resulted in paying fines in any case. Unless the secrecy laws were broken or Dark Magic was used the Ministry was happy to fine and move on.

Also as this was a society were everyone knew everyone else either directly or via a friend a lot of matters like abused or orphaned children tended to be handled by simply having the child go live with a relative. So even if I did expose the child pornography issue it would be dealt with quietly with a few fines and then some young girls would be sent to live with their grandparents or aunts and uncles.

Not having any other means to vent my frustration I ended up blowing up some more dummies and found out that even curses not considered 'dark' could be made a lot more destructive if you were angry enough when casting.

Really wanting to vent I used the The Entrail-Expelling Curse on another dummy which caused the part of the dummy where if it was human the entrails would be to explode outwards.

"Damien!" shouted Ginny with concern "that's a dark arts spell".

If blowing up a dummy using a dark curse made me a Dark Wizard then I was fine with it because I didn't see much goodness in this society. They could label me whatever they wished they had no right to judge.

"Its just wood" I argued "its not real!"

I calmed down quickly and reminded myself that it wasn't all badness around here. My friends cared they didn't want me using Dark Magic because they were scared I'd become evil and hurt somebody. It wasn't about me venting anger using Dark Magic it was about what Dark Magic might do to me if I kept using it.

"Sorry guess I'm just stressed out" I apologised "I wouldn't use that on a person".

Which wasn't a lie because I didn't see the kind of people I would use that curse on as really being people at all.

Still I did see the point the 'light' wizards often made about emotionally fuelled spells. Dark Magic was rather thrilling to use it had been very satisfying to blow up the dummy using that curse which had required me to desire to inflict harm on another being rather than just destroy them in self defence. But if I lashed in anger all the time there would come a point when somebody did get hurt because I wouldn't be reacting out of fear I'd be attacking in anger.

Ginny seemed somewhat assured judging by how her red face was going back to its more pale colour but she stayed standing as if to watch over me.

"Please just be careful" she pleaded "you could really hurt someone with those kind of curses there not as easy to block being dark and all. You should never cast a curse like that if your angry".

I'd noticed that about the so called 'dark arts'. Anger driven casting was harder to block than spells cast with fear, which most offensive 'light' spells were cast with given that they were used in self defence when under threat, and spells that required hate were the hardest to block. The Killing Curse was a good example of this with that curse you had really had to want someone dead in order to make it work.

"Sorry" I apologised again.

"Its understandable" said Nev in support "I've wanted to curse more than a few people since started school Mostly Mrs. Norris and her pet Caretaker".

Neville knew why I was upset these days having seen all the letters. Luna hadn't seen those ones but she would of understood my point of view despite being a nudist herself as she wouldn't want to photographed when naked and then have those photos be looked out by strangers.

"We're all a bit on edge" agreed Luna "its the Dementors. Its hard to be happy when they're around".

It was possible that the Dementors were having an effect even from a distance. I still understood very little about magic but I could imagine that having a load of dark creatures around might have some sort of negative influence on me. Not just me either everyone seemed a bit on edge it was like a depressing aura was smothering the castle.

"I think I know what we can put in the Newsletter" I told the group "let's remind everyone that Dementors are evil monsters and that hundreds of them are around the school that all their children are currently living in".

My inner circle all agreed with this idea. The demons really had to go I'd much prefer to wipe them off the face of the Earth but there was no spell for that.

I suddenly smiled, but no one noticed given that I was facing the wrong way. I'd just remembered that my birthday was only a month or so away and I might be able to get something to deal with the soul suckers from the Traveller.

It was doubtful that he would kill them for me or even give me away to do it but there might be a way to kill them one at a time. Even a weapon would do as the Dementors didn't effect me as badly as they should so I could actually hit them physically if I needed to.

Thinking on that, had anyone ever tried to kill the Dementors with a physical attacks? They had a physical presence they couldn't move through solid objects like a ghost could so if say a roof collapsed upon a group of them would they be crushed?

Spells didn't seem to bother them or at least there was no mention of anything other than the Patronus Charm having any worthwhile effect. According to the books I'd read on the subject they can't be destroyed. Although what is interesting is that their numbers can be reduced if the conditions that they require to multiply are reduced so if the world because a utopia they'd if not die then at least fade away.

That made me wonder if they were in some way manifestations of some sort rather than actual living creatures. There existence could be sign of just how rotten the magical world was under the surface. But if someone was to right enough social wrongs and try to improve things then might the Dementors at least be reduced to the point were they could be safely contained?

Then again if they were manifestations of the evil of Wizard kind then they might always exist and Muggles might be partly responsible their existence as well. Building a utopia in order to get rid of the Dementors was a little out of my reach. I wasn't a god after all.

Well not yet anyway.

"So we point out that Sirius Black never got a trail and we mention that the Dementors are making our lives miserable" said Ginny who was now taking notes.

The notes always got left in this room as leaving them anywhere but here would end up with us being exposed as the ones who were writing the paper. All the physical evidence stayed in this room because unless somebody asked the room to show them the notes they'd never find them and if they knew that the notes existed in here then they had already found out who was behind the Outcast paper anyway.

"No" I disagreed "if we only mention that were all feeling depressed then the teachers will just start feeding use more chocolate or we'll get told to buck up. We need to highlight the danger we are all in from the nasty creatures who eat people's souls. The Ministry will assure everyone that the Dementors are under their control unless we make people think innocent children are at stake but we only need to get a few parents worried to make Fudge reconsider his popularity ratings are all that matter to him".

Well that and his bribes from Lucy 'isn't my hair really feminine' Malfoy but that ponce was dead now and I would have his money in a few years.

That stopped my normal pacing while thinking dead.

"I have his money" I said out loud.

The rest of the Outcasts looked at me like I'd gone a bit batty so I explained.

"We all known that Malfoy was a big wig around the Ministry due to his money, but that money is now mine I inherited it all. I even have Draco's trust fund".

Which was really morbid to think about.

"So your rich" said Neville slowly as if he trying to work out a puzzle.

"No I was already rich" I reminded "Mason family fortune remember"

Neville nodded and said.

"Its the same with me. I'll inherit my family fortune when I leave school as Gran wants to retire. You'll get yours at Seventeen but I'll of left school by then so what different does it make. I mean you'll be richer than me but what does it matter?"

Neville and I never talked about that fact that we were both going to very rich young men in a few years. The Lovegoods weren't that rich but they were a lot more financially secure than Ginny's family so none of us boasted about our wealth. Not that I would because it really hadn't sunk in yet just how disgustingly wealthy I was going to be in less five years.

"Yes but the Minister was controlled by Malfoy's money which is now my money" I said trying to still explain "so without Malfoy another Pureblood is going to have bribe the Minister to help keep the Purebloods on top but I'm now richer than any of them so I can bribe the Minister".

"Oh I get" it said Ginny

"The Minister is going to come to you" stated Luna.

"He'll wait to Christmas I'll bet and then make some sort of move once the lack of bribe money starts to hurt" I figured.

Luna nodded to confirm that she foresaw such a thing which made me think that Fudge was worryingly predictable for the leader of a nation. It was also rather worrying that Fudge would come to me for money because I would only be thirteen by Christmas. That was a little young to asking me for bribe money. But if I didn't make him an offer one of the other older families might get a person in as Fudge's new advisor.

So I'd have to depend on the Minister's greed. He must know I have the money or at least that I will have the money. It wouldn't surprise if Fudge offered me emancipation just so I could give him more money. If he didn't I could mention it and see what happened.

Not even the Wizarding World would ever emancipate an eleven year old but a thirteen year old might stand a better chance as in some cultures thirteen years old when was when a boy became a man even it wasn't in the legal sense. So it could work out and if anyone could make it happen it would be Fudge.

"If the impression I get from my Dad is anything to go by Fudge won't be above trying to get his hands of your money" agreed Ginny "He's not as subtle as he thinks he is when speaking".

I wasn't sure if Gin meant the Minister or her Dad but frankly either or both ways it could be true.

"Gran would say the same" said Neville.

"Daddy would agree" added Luna.

When Xeno was on the same page as the likes of Lady Longbottom then it must be true. Those two only had the same opinion on the most blatant of truths.

"So assuming he does make some sort of approach what do I ask from him and how?".

This was outside my range of experiences. I had no idea how to offer a bribe without being obvious about it. The arena of politics was not well known to me I hadn't even know I could vote until Madam Longbottom had told me.

"Well you gave Gran power of proxy for your seat" reminded Nev "So he can't ask you for that but the Minister controls enough seats anyway. So I guess if he tells you about a law passing and you like then you could 'contribute to his campaign fund' and if you don't want it passed then you would tell him you don't like it. But bribing him might not be enough you'd have to discredit or support the law somehow if it had public support. You could do that with more bribing I guess. Unless Dumbledore supported it strongly. In that case you'd to discredit the Headmaster like Malfoy did with the Muggle Protection Act".

I'd forgotten that Neville was going to get his own seat and my seat too since I wouldn't want to be sitting in the courtrooms while I should be preparing for my NEWT exams.

"I'll keep you on as proxy" I informed Neville "at least for year I'm still in school and your not".

"Thanks mate" replied Nev with a smile "I can show you what to do once your out of this place".

I suddenly wondered if political power might be the best power to try and obtain. I didn't like the way this nation was run so reforming it from the inside might work. It would have the added bonus of being legal as well no need to hide out in hidden bases when I could change the Wizarding World while sitting in a nice office.

It was then I that I realised that I could still be a Dark Lord and work with the system. Palpatine had done it on a galaxy wide scale so in comparison taking over one country should be a piece of cake. I'd need an apprentice to do the not so legal stuff like killing people who didn't support my rise to power and I'd need an army of some sort to keep order if I did turn Wizarding Britain into an evil empire of some sort.

No it wouldn't work I'd forgotten about the rest of the world. The other magical nations wouldn't stand by and let Britain become a dictatorship that could threaten them.

As for the army of followers well I'd need a group like the Death Eaters to keep help order once I took over. That was actual possible I could afford an army and like Voldemort I had the ability to attract followers.

I shook my head and started pacing again. That whole idea was silly. I didn't have the kind of power or resources a Palpatine like take over would require. Plus Dumbledore would be able to stop me.

Besides I'd need something like the Clone Wars to take place in order to distract people from what I was up to and to keep in office but there was no way I could use the coming civil war that way. Not unless I was able to delay it by at least ten years.

Then again I could always create the threat. I'd need a group like the Death Eaters which would be a just cause for the creation of a Wizard army. I'd then have to bring the leaders of this Wizard army around to my way of thinking but that was again possible.

On the other hand if I could create two armies it would be easier to try and conquer the Wizarding World. I cared not for Blood Purity but a magical master race where only being able to use a wand mattered would suit me.

But I wasn't a Nazis either plus it might led to genocide which was never a good thing as the Muggles would be the Jews in this case and they outnumbered magic using human tens of thousands ,if not more, to one. Add in the fact that the Muggles had all the best weapons and well it wouldn't end well for anyone.

I stopped that trail of thought when I realised that the Dementors might be influencing me or at least I hoped that this was the case. If not then I was becoming a Grade A megalomaniac.

Needing to distract myself I recapped the meeting with my fellow Outcasts.

"Right then so this is the plan until Christmas. The Newsletter will focus on Black mentioning that he never got a trail but otherwise just stating the facts. We will also mention the Dementors and how dangerous they are around children they boarded the train so can spin that to our advantage".

"Hannah and Susan want to write about you" informed Ginny.

I was shocked.

"They can't interview me" I pointed out "that would expose us".

Ginny gave me a look that said 'of course not you silly boy'.

"No they just want to mention that you didn't singly handedly drive off ten Dementors from the Hogwarts Express saving all the First Years. The bits about you being rich and single is true after all".

"I'm twelve" I reminded everyone "I'm too young to be dating".

"For now" replied Ginny "your nearly thirteen and all the girls know it".

Damn it.

"Okay fine mention me and what really happened" I allowed.

"What about exorcising Binns?" asked Neville "are we still going to be doing that".

"Yes" I said "We'll need to find his grave if there isn't a spell to just exorcise him".

"Aren't you suppose to help a ghost move on?" questioned Luna "we need to find out what is keeping him here".

I snorted and said.

"It would not shock me to discover that he doesn't even realise he is dead".

The staff would never tell him. Why would they he was teaching for free after all. Exorcising him would require the school to actually pay a teacher to teach History Of Magic.

"Okay we can try telling him he is dead" I told the group "and if it doesn't work then we can try finding out why he is still here. Ghosts only exist if the person fears death so he must be scared of something. Assuming he isn't just so stubbornly teaching that death didn't even slow him down".

"If he's tied to the school it might be a problem" explained Luna "some ghost are attached to a place. Getting rid of some ghosts requires destroying the place they are attached to and we can't destroy the school".

Or to a job I realised. Binns had died and then stayed to teach and kept teaching he didn't haunt the castle not really he'd just never stopped doing his job. So the answer there might be to fire him or to somehow get him to quit. I could send him a letter from the Board of Governors telling him that History of Magic was no longer going to be taught at the school. He might move on if he no longer had the job or at least thought he didn't.

"I'll try something before we take any extreme measures" I informed everyone before adding "its getting harder to met so why don't we have the next meeting during the Christmas Holidays. I'm sure can all met at Luna's".

I was spending Christmas there and I had no choice in the matter. Luna wanted me in bed with her again this Xmas. I got the feeling that this was going to be a tradition from now on. And given the way I was ploughing through puberty like a freight train these days it wasn't going to be as comfortable as last year.

Stupid hormones.


	12. Chapter 12

**War Sage.**

**Thank you. **

**Lord Edric **

**But Palpatine is such a good role model for those of us who want to rule the galaxy! Sorry. I meant rule the world! (Evil Laughter) **

**Worsfold15 **

**Here's the update. **

**Guest.**

**My update rate should improve once half term is over. I've been spending time with my nephews and nieces so I've been busy for most of this week. **

**Douchiesnacks**

**I think them having any common sense is amazing. **

**A W**

**Oops I meant pheasant that's a funny typo. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 12.**

**Hogwarts School. The Quidditch Pitch. The Wizarding World. **

I'd actually missed this silly excuse for a sport. I'd missed watching idiotic teenagers risk their lives for the amusement of the masses. And the whole school seemed to have as well judging by the insane amount of cheering going on.

It had come as quite the surprise to the student body when Dumbledore had declared that Quidditch was returning to Hogwarts. Everyone had assumed that the sport would never be played here again since it had cost a student his life but the truth as to why Draco had died was now known to everyone, and since the blame could be placed on Dobby the House Elf the staff no felt the need to worry about further endangering the players.

Well the truth was partly known. Dobby had confessed his crime telling the Ministry that it was he who had tampered with the Blugder but he hadn't told anyone why he'd done it and no one at the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures had bothered to find out. They'd simply had Dobby put down like he was a rabid dog rather than a thinking, feeling person.

I knew the reason why Dobby had done what he had done and I guessed that Dobby hadn't been able to confess the truth until after Mr. Malfoy had died. Dobby must of have for some reason felt it was best to mention anything while the older Malfoy was still alive.

Recently I'd been told that Dobby had been put down because like everything else the Malfoy's had owned Dobby had belonged to me. The Ministry had even sent me a letter to explain and then paid me a sum of money as compensation for the inconvenience of having to replace a servant. I was really getting fed up of making money through other people's deaths.

Once Dobby's confession was publicly known the Headmaster had restarted the Quidditch school cup and everyone had forgotten about the Malfoys which seemed wrong to me.

Sure the Malfoy's hadn't been nice people but the entire family no longer existed. Granted Draco's mother was still alive but she'd left the country and lost the right to the name so everything that had been Malfoy was now Mason.

Including their manor house which was now Mason Manor having been officially renamed. The Manor had been cleaned out of dark artefacts as with no one left to stop them the Ministry had done a top to bottom search of the property. I was still legally a minor so I hadn't even been informed of the raid (nor had I been at any point shown a warrant) until after the place had been cleared out but I had once again been compensated with money.

The Ministry seemed to think that either taking or giving people gold was the solution to everything.

At some point I would have to decide what to do with that Manor House. I already had Mason Mansion as a home. However my family home wasn't a true Manor House as it had never served as the home to the gentry and the difference mattered.

The former Malfoy home had been more than a place for people to live in it was the home of a minor noble in feudal times and came with a lot of land attached.

These days that was land was used by Wizarding middle class families for whatever business it was their family was known for, be that the raising of useful magical creatures or the growing of food. Those families had paid rent in order to use the land the Malfoy's had owned and the lord of the manor (which was now me) had to in return ensure that the land was usable and safe.

This arrangement had been in place for hundreds of years and was the source of the Malfoy family fortune (a long with a few business investments) and that income was, like everything else that had been Malfoy, now mine.

I also had the responsibilities as well but thankfully there were people already in place to take of any problems that came up I just had to pay them.

Once again having Madam Longbottom acting on behalf was proving to be a godsend as she paying the staff directly out of the profits and they took care of the land. Anything left was put into a new account which I could access now.

I'd known I was rich but it had taken me a while to discover just how rich I was. I'd had no idea that the Malfoy's weren't just living large on wealth obtained by their ancestors. The family had been important not just because they had money but also because they had land.

The Mason family was also rather rich but there were no responsibilities attached to that wealth. The fortune of my fake family had been built mostly by members of the non-existent family having invented a lot of things that sold well at the time but they had been fads and so didn't generate any income these days.

Well aside from a few potions but you couldn't patent a potion like you could other inventions due to fact that a clever potion's master like Slughorn could with some effort produce another potion that had the same effect using different, and mostly cheaper, ingredients. So the amount of money coming was negligible.

I'd discovered that this could happen when Neville and I had perfected the a potion version of Gillyweed. It had been rather easy to make as we could of just stuck Gillyweed in a blender to get the desired concoction so most of our work that involved trying to make the awful stuff taste better than drinkable rubber without reducing its effectiveness.

The potion had sold well as a fad and for a while the students had enjoyed being able to listen to the merfolk sing in their lake and being able to spend an hour breathing under water even if it was in the bath tub, but the Bubblehead charm was a lot easier to use and you didn't have to wait for it to wear off before you could start breathing air again.

Still the money had been nice and Neville and gotten a lot of house points in potion class. Also since Slughorn had handled the selling of the potion he'd even us extra credit in class and told us that such good work would help Neville to obtain Prefect status in a couple of years. Slughorn had also promised he put in a good word for Nev who would be a better choice that Ron 'I have the emotional maturity of a hungry and tired toddler Weasly' that was for sure. I was sure that this promise had nothing to do with the rare plant parts Neville was supplying the teacher.

Focusing on the match I watched and the Griffs and Snakes had their little war in the sky I also kept an eye out for the Dementors who were due to attack the first Quidditch game of the season.

Due to Draco being dead and buried Ravenclaw wasn't playing in this match as without Draco around to be injured by foolishly insulting Buckbeak the Snakes had to reason not to play today so they had to put with the deary weather rather than the bird team.

The rain and wind weren't really a big deal it wasn't a real storm so no brooms were going to get struck by lightening. No the real threat was the soul sucking demons.

I was keeping my wand close and I'd made sure all the Outcasts ,Susan and Hannah included, knew how to cast the charm. I didn't think that the two Puffs would be able to cast the spell when faced with an actual Dementor despite having practised but it was worth teaching them as even a few wisps of a Patronus could slow one of the demons down.

The feeling I had that the coming Dementor attack could be a lot worse than the one in the book was a strong one. Perhaps that was paranoia but it was best to air on the side of caution after all there were hundreds of children here and most of them were defenceless. I could easily imagine the Dementors sucking out a few dozen souls before the Ministry could do whatever it was they did to control the evil creatures.

It was such a shame that the attack would ruin the match as it was turning out to be rather a good one. The Seeker who had replaced Draco was a lot more talented than my now dead second cousin (apparently Draco and I had shared a pair of Great Grandparents which was why he was second cousin although with the way Pureblood families interbred we might have been third cousins as well, if such a thing was possible) I had no idea who the new Seeker for the snake team was but it was clear that Draco's father's money had gotten Draco the place of Seeker as otherwise this new kid would have been on the team last year.

The cheering suddenly stopped and I looked around time was frozen again just like at the last match I was at.

Checking out the crowd I examined everyone and found no one moving or oddly dressed at least not until I heard my own voice.

"Hello James".

I span on the spot and saw the Traveller who once more looked liked the adult version of myself only wearing heavy black robes. I got the whole impression that this was what I would look like as a Sith Lord.

"Now there's an idea" said the Traveller "I should turn one of the versions of you into a Sith Lord that could be so much fun".

I cursed under my breathe as I realised that my idle thought might just have messed up the life of another version of myself.

"So what to I owe the pleasure of your visit?" I asked the Traveller politely.

"Oh I just came by to discuss the future" explained my patron "I want to make sure that you get the most from your reward".

Considering that my reward was putting me into danger I didn't think much of it and as for the future well that had me deeply concerned.

"Hey I just promised to make a powerful Wizard" protested the Cosmic Horror who was reading my mind again "that means providing you with the needed tools and ensuring your education. I never promised to babysit you. As for your future that is up to you decide I'm not encouraging you to do anything".

He wasn't? I found that hard to believe.

The Traveller passed me a card, a card that I had seen before. I'd not had the chance to give it a good look the last time I had seen it so I took the chance to examine it.

'WIZARD GOTHIC'

There was a picture of me as a Wizard and a lot of some small print text on the back of the card. The text told me that I would be given the opportunity to become a very powerful Wizard. It also told me that the Traveller would ensure that I had everything I would need to live as a Wizard and that I could be any kind of Wizard I wished to be aside from a Necromancer.

"I supplied everything as promised" reminded the godlike tentacle monster in disguise "I got you a place in this society. I gave you wealth. Set you up with a nice home. And I am ensuring that you get the best of educations".

True enough I knew far more magic than any other second year student here and that would be true even without the summer I'd spent at the Unseen University.

"Well yes" I agreed before bringing up my concerns "but there's nothing on this card about me having to survive what is going to be a nasty war".

"All of existence is dangerous" pointed out the being "to be alive is set a date with death. There is no place I could send you to learn magic where you wouldn't face some sort of danger but at least here you have your knowledge of this world to help you".

The Traveller had made his point and done it well. He was right I had the knowledge I needed to survive and the tools needed to do so as well.

I could not only survive the coming war but I could end it quickly if I was smart enough and had a bit lucky. I wouldn't even need to kill Voldemort p I could just prevent his return or at least aid in Riddle's destruction. Heck get me into Lestrange's vault and Number 12 Grimmauld Place and I could deal with most of the coming mess on my own.

"I'd help but were would be the fun in that" remarked my benefactor "you will have to deal with Voldie yourself I'm only going to give the means to do so. I won't help directly".

The Traveller then took out a cardboard folder and passed it to me.

"And on the subject of giving you the means we need to discuss next summer. I have another educational opportunity for you and I made some other arrangements which should be fun".

I checked out the contents of the folder and found World Cup tickets for the Quidditch final in the summer. That seemed like rather a nice gift until I remembered what happened at the end of that match.

"You'll have good seats" promised the Traveller "and I took the liberty of picking out your camping spot. Your future father-in-law will supervise the trip".

I had to wonder how he arranged these things maybe one day I'd ask but right now I had other concerns.

"Any help to offer on the subject of Dementors?" I asked hopefully.

"What I have arranged for your next summer school will help with all of your future problems as long as you use what you learn smartly".

Well that was sort of helpful.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" questioned the Traveller "I want to go and check on the Dungeon Keeper version of you soon he's having a good time I watched him get his ass handed to him last night. Great fun ".

I examined the vast amount of knowledge my brain was filled with (most of it not really helpful unless your doing a pub quiz that isn't about sports and celebrities) and recalled what I knew about Dungeon Keepers. When I was finished remembering I came to conclusion that I had actually done rather well in picking this reward.

"Well there's the subject of Luna" I brought up "She seems to be encouraging me to be the next Dark Lord, and making what might be jokes about world domination".

It had happened a few times. Luna had made offhanded comments about me becoming a Dark Lord and about world domination. In fact she'd made a comment today when I'd asked her about the roaring lion mask thing she wore to the match. Something about having my soldiers riding Chimera.

Worse was the fact that I was actually think about becoming a Dark Lord. I couldn't help but think that this was due to a certain tentacle monster's influence

"I did nothing to Luna other than fix her mind a little and improve her Seer powers" assured the Traveller "When putting your mind back together I learned a lot about your race's 'sanity' and I used that knowledge to fix Miss. Lovegood's instability".

That didn't really assure me as I didn't think I was that sane even before meeting the Traveller.

"Of course its hard to tell sometimes given that she's seeing possible futures so often" the thing using my face added "but you have noticed that she no longer talks about rare magical creatures as if they are real and that she has the focus required in order to devote affection and attention to you".

Indeed I had noticed and I asked myself if the affection she showed towards me were natural or if the Traveller had implanted it.

"If you did become a Dark Lord she'd support you" said the Traveller "she doesn't want you to become a tyrant but if it happens she won't fight fate. You accept her so she accepts you. She's not joking when she talks about you taking over the world she's already seen that it COULD happen and she has decided to support you no matter what you do because you support her. She has seen that you will always protect and care for her no matter what so in her mind supporting your ambitions is only fair as she'll do it even it means compromising her morals".

I'd seen that in effect when it was time to use the curse on the Defence job to not only remove Lockhart from the school but also Snape. In my mind getting rid of Snape had been a good thing but to Luna it must have been a hard thing to let happen. Of course she didn't know what Snape really was and what he would do. To me the whole thing had been perfectly justified.

"You on the hand well you've always had a great desire to obtain power its just up until now you have never been given the chance to satisfy that desire. Your a megalomaniac".

I'd always assumed everyone felt like that sometimes and wasn't as I was always obsessed with gaining the power needed to change the world.

"But I have power" I pointed out "Sure I've been tempted to learn the Dark Arts in order to get more, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to try to take over the world just to get more power. I'm not a megalomaniac".

The Traveller gave me a look of pity before saying.

"There's no need for you to feel guilty. That desire is part of who you are it gives you great motivation to act. Something these lot lack".

The Traveller swung his arm gesturing to the frozen crowd.

"Look at these people. Despite the power they have most of them will be happy to spend decades, or in some cases a couple of centuries, living dull, unproductive lives were they do as little work as possible while trying to avoid danger".

You could say the same for most of mankind but at least non-magical humans had people who did try to advance their society. Which was fine with me for the most part as people have a right to live their lives as they see fit but the laziness of Wizardkind allowed the like of the Death Eaters to exist.

"This society hasn't changed much since Queen Victoria was on the throne. It's a civilisation mostly made up of closed minded bigots who at worst would like to exterminate the humans they see as below them and even the best of them want to force the Muggleborns to conform to their standards".

I agreed. Voldemort and Dumbledore were just the most visible signs of this societies' messed up attitude towards Muggleborns. Neither group seemed to realise just what an asset the Muggleborns could be.

The Purebloods were dying out because they didn't seem to understand that they needed Muggleborns. They needed them not just fresh sources of DNA to offset the inbreeding but also to bring in new ideas and new ways of doing things. Societies were like living things, they adapted or they died.

Sure Dumbledore was better than Riddle because even if Dumbledore did want the Muggleborns to integrate into this society at least he didn't go around trying to kill and torture people.

From my own observations I felt that Dumbledore was simply a well meaning person who wanted he what saw as the best for everyone but along the way he forgotten that people had feelings that mattered. He tried to do what he saw as best and was willing to make sacrifices but he wasn't fighting to win. In his inability to kill ensured that the Wizarding civil war would end in Voldemort's victory it was just a matter of time. Even if Voldemort did die someone would replace him sooner to later and the whole thing would start over again.

Voldemort on the other hand was fighting to win it was just that his cause (assuming he actually cared about it and it wasn't all just about power and avoiding death) was pointless. The Purebloods were doomed it was already too late to save them and no amount of killing would change that. But like the other Death Eaters he was to closed minded to ever see that. Even if they didn't know it they were acting of fear. They were scared of losing the privileged life styles that they had.

In the end it would be the Muggleborns who inherited the Wizarding World but that would be after centuries of being forced to conform, being oppressed and outright murdered.

"And what you see as a problem what you call megalomania is just what you'd need to fix this sorry mess" said the Traveller "you could end up being the next Voldemort while Potter replaces Dumbledore. Only next time it won't be about Blood Purity it will be about you creating a new and better society".

That was a scary idea and worse it was a valid one, but I didn't think that I had the right to change these people's lives.

"Or you could leave this world behind".

I turned to face the Traveller and asked.

"What do you mean?".

"Once your an adult again you could always leave this world and settle down somewhere else. The gift only requires you to be a Wizard that's all. You don't have to be a Dark Wizard. You don't even have to be a Wizard of this world. I altered the Veil Of Death its now no longer connected to the afterlife it will just randomly send whoever goes through it to another magical world".

"So I have a way out" I realised.

"Well you should complete your training here" recommend my patron "but yes if you need to escape its there. Just call upon your Elf and she will take you to the gate. If you take someone with you make you hold hands as at least that way you will at least both arrive on the same world".

I breathed out a great sigh of relief. Knowing that I had way out and that I could at least take Luna with me.

"Well I'm off" declared the Traveller "I'll update the folder after Christmas with the full details of your Summer school. Oh and don't forget about the Dementors. I'll get you some that can kill them for your birthday".

The Traveller was fading away but I stopped him by asking another question.

"Wait, why don't the Dementors effect me?" I shouted

"Oh well that's because when I put you back together I didn't quite do it right" explained the being "physically your fine in fact your going to discover that your better than ever. But in a spiritual sense your not quite right your soul isn't attached to your body in the right way and its a bit damaged".

I nearly started to panic and who would blame me after all having a damaged soul could be a disaster.

"Relax its actually a good thing" assured the Traveller "your soul will pass to the afterlife as normal but because its not as a attached to your body the same way other people's souls are the Dementors can't take it from you. And to their senses your not quite there and that makes them somewhat nervous around you".

I could understand that. For people who used their eyes and ears to sense people I would appear perfectly normal but when you detect people on a spiritual level I would seem to be not all there as it were. Or at least that was how I saw the situation.

"It also means you can't create a horcrux or become a ghost" added the Traveller "but you'd never make a horcrux or become a ghost so it doesn't matter. I never fixed the damage because being nearly immune Dementors other soul stealers, eaters and leeches has it advantages".

And with that the being was gone leaving me no time to seek clarification. Time seemed to speed up and then start moving correctly just in time for the Dementors to attack.

Everyone else panicked driven to fear by the horror these demons created but to me it everything just got colder and while I felt worried as well as a bit scared but it wasn't crippling.

Luna and I brought out our partonus. Soon a Fox and a Hare along with a lot of white mist took the sky to shield the stand we were on from a group of Dementors who had decided to target our stand as it was filled with the first and second year Ravenclaw students who would have been defenceless.

I cursed the Traveller again for not giving me the means to kill these creatures as their attack on children disgusted me. I promised myself that one day I'd kill all these monsters.

"Bravo!. Mr. Mason. Miss Lovegood" said Professor Flitwick the head of Ravenclaw house whose much larger patronus which was now working with ours to help shield the younger students. "I'd of gotten here in time to protect the younger students but still well done for looking after them I will mention this to the headmaster".

Oh that was just what I needed more fame and rewards.

Before I could get further annoyed a brilliant white bird patronus filled the air before us the Dementors were soon fleeing from the phoenix patronus as Dumbledore once more saved the day.

The old goat was useful for something then, not that this would save him in the end.

"Let's get out of here" I told Luna "I think the Outcast paper needs another edition".

Without replying the blond girl followed me and we slipped away using the crowd as cover.


	13. Chapter 13

**War sage**

**I hope you like this chapter just as much. **

**douchiesnacks **

**Thanks. **

**Lord Edric **

**I don't think Dumbledore actually created the problem he fixed. Grindlewad was already set on his path before he met Dumbledore he got kicked out of a school which teaches the dark arts for doing dark arts after all so he must have been bad from the start. **

**You could say Dumbledore made it worse but I don't think he ever would of gone as far as to actually try to enslave the muggles and take the Wizarding World. It seemed to me that Dumbledore was a lonely young man who fell in love and was blinded by that love. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened to someone. I've known more than a few girls who got into legal trouble because of their bad boy boyfriends. Dumbledore should of known better but then so should every woman who ends with an abusive man for a lover. **

**If your talking about Riddle. Again I don't think Dumbledore is to blame. Sure he made it worse by not killing Riddle or locking him up with Grindlewald before Riddle even became a Dark Lord but Dumbledore didn't create these monsters. **

**Grindelwald was carving his Dark Lord symbol into the walls of his school long before he met Dumbledore he was a known sadist at his school and nearly killed a few people. **

**As for Voldemort well is the product of being born under the effects of love potion, being too powerful and being too afraid of death. The guy murdered what was left of his family before he was even out of school. **

**No Dumbledore didn't create these threats but he may of used to them to advance himself into power.**

**As for your idea of using V it would only work if Dumbledore, Voldemort and Potter were gone. Voldemort would destroy any rival group to his Death Eaters and Dumbledore would never let himself be replaced my anyone but Potter. And if Potter is around everyone will turn to him in the hopes that he will defeat the new threat. **

**A sane Luna scares me as well and I have to write her but my version of insane adult Luna would make Bellatrix look like an angry puppy. One traumatic push would be all it takes (evil smile) **

**A.W **

**The last chapter was more about setting up future chapters like this one. And lots of people don't read author notes. I'm guilty of it myself. **

**Yeah I've noticed that about Harry Potter fan fics. They tend to stick to the cannon plot as closely as possible. In my view that's fine when you start but as time passes things would get more and more different. **

**I on the other hand totally screwed with the time line by making sure the Chamber never opened. Of course that made things worse, depending on your point of view, as a student actually died rather than a few people ending up getting turned to stone.**

**However in the end it didn't change much at least not so far. Black still escaped and the diary Horcrux was still destroyed. And If Gothic doesn't do anything about Wormtail the rat could still escape and work to restore Voldemort to life. But even if Wormtail dies or gets locked up and Sirus is set free. Barty Crouch Junior could still end up aiding his master its just that he won't be pretending to be Moody so Voldemort will have to come up with a different plan to get Potter to the graveyard. **

**There's a theory about altering the past that states that someone altering past events is like throwing a stone into a pound. At first it creates a lot of ripples (changes) but things then calm down and nothing the person who changed the past events has done seems to have any real impact at all. **

**If that theory is true rather than the Butterfly effect that it would justify why so many Potter fan fics involving time travel follow the cannon plot so much. **

**And of course you have things like fate and destiny to take into account also there is that whole prophecy issue. **

**Check the author note. **

**Guest**

**Not directly but in this chapter you will see that Gothic's and Luna's actions did draw attention of the teachers. But not in a bad way. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 13.**

**Ottery St. Catchpole. Devon, England. The Wizarding World. **

While it was very nice to be out of school for the holidays I didn't think I'd ever get use to attending Christmas parties or having to wear dress robes. Any party where the men show off as much of their legs as the women do is just bad in my view. But I had to grin and bare it.

The Diggory Christmas party was far less casual this year due to there being more important guests than normal. Something Mrs. Diggory took delight in as last year half the Hogwarts staff hadn't been here and neither had the Minister for Magic.

Their presence here was partly my fault as twice so far this year I'd beaten back the Dementors while seeming to protect the younger students. Really I'd mostly been protecting myself and Luna but if I saved the souls of any children as well that was a nice bonus.

The first time I'd played the hero had been mostly ignored, aside from gaining Luna and I some house points which I really don't care about. Mostly a fuss hadn't been made because few people had actually seen anything and Lupin had realised that neither Luna or myself wanted a lot of fuss made so he'd kindly not gone around telling people about it.

Of course that hadn't stopped the whole school talking about but when combined with the news that I was now the richest kid in the school the whole saving the train thing hadn't seemed that important it had just enhanced my reputation even further. I'd had to politely refuse quite a few Christmas party invitations.

There had been some talk of a special services to the school award after the train ride but there was some sort of rule that stated that the award could only be given for actions the students made while in the school or by representing the school. Neither of which applied during the ride to school on the Hogwarts Express.

However the second time Luna and I had tackled the Dementors the entire school had been there as well as a handful of VIPs. Some of them had seen Luna and I protect an entire stand of children. The fact that the teacher had actually been the ones to drive the demons away wasn't taken into account.

One of those VIPs had been Fudge the Minister Of Magic who was currently heading right for me with a big grin on his face.

I'd predicated that the Minister would approach me at some point in the hopes of gaining access once more to the Malfoy fortune. I'd even guessed that it would at Christmas time and Luna had confirmed this. But I'd never guessed that he'd be approaching me privately after publicly awarding Luna and I the Order Of Merlin Third Class for defending our fellow students. Luna hadn't seen it coming either, but no one is perfect.

"Ah Damien there you are" said the Minister with a grin plastered across his face "I've been looking for you. I was just speaking to Dumbledore and he told me that you and Miss. Lovegood will be getting that Special Services to the School Award after all but you'll have to wait till you return to Hogwarts".

Oh great more attention that was just what I needed.

"That's great Minister" I replied lying through my teeth.

"Oh that's not all Damien" said the Minster who was still smiling in that way politicians do which never failed to creep me out "Between you and Miss. Lovegood you have earned two hundred house points so its safe to say that Ravenclaw will be winning the House Cup this year".

I really couldn't of cared less about House Points and I failed to hide my lack of interest. Thankfully the Minister didn't pick on what I was really feeling.

"Is something the matter Damien?" asked the Minister.

I lied quickly

"Oh I was just thinking that with that many house points that the other students might start to think that its not worth trying to win the cup at all".

The Minister acted as if my views actually mattered.

"Well I'll mention it to Dumbledore but I'm sure he knows what he is doing".

A sentiment I did not share.

"It was his idea after all" added Fudge

Damn it! I really didn't want Dumbledore to noticed me.

"Really" I said hoping that my concerned shock came off as mere surprise "I didn't think the headmaster would of even noticed me I'm just a second year after all".

"Of course he noticed" assured Fudge although I didn't feel assured "they have been talking about you and Miss. Lovegood all evening. Your head of house was even suggesting that the both of you be moved up a year of course if that does happen it will have to happen quickly as you'd of missed a couple of months worth of your electives. Would skipping a year interest you Damien?".

I gave it some thought.

In the third year Hogwarts students picked two extra classes to take OWLs for along with the normal classes. So if Luna and I did move up a year we'd not only be doing more advanced work for the classes we were already in but we'd also start two new classes after they had already covered the basics.

I wouldn't protest this as I found the school work rather easy. Compared to college level work first and second year high school work was far to simple for my tastes.

During my college years I'd been able to write up five thousand word essay in one evening after having done all the research before dinner. In comparison a few inches of homework was no challenge at all. I couldn't speak for Luna but I got the sense that the school work wasn't exactly taxing her much either.

Still I couldn't help but wonder if the teachers just saw Luna and I as a couple of gifted students deserving of advancement or if they had suspicions about us.

It was highly doubtful that they had knew the truth after the idea that I was from the future of another universe were this world was all fiction and that Luna was a true Seer who could examine possible time lines was rather ridiculous. But they might suspect that Luna and I were behind the Outcast newsletter.

The clues were there. Luna's Dad published the Quibbler which meant that she had the access required printing press. Luna was a bright young student who expressed her views and had inside information about what was going on the school. I was here best friend and also considered to be smart so naturally I could be involved. We were both also friends with two girls who were known for their skills in gossiping. It really wasn't that hard to figure out.

Thankfully nothing we were doing was illegal or even against school rules. Plus nobody had any proof since they hadn't found out how the Outcast newsletter was finding its way into people's hands.

"Well I think I could cope with moving up a year" I said to the Minister who was waiting for me to say something "I can't speak for Luna of course but she's smarter than me so I'm sure she could handle it".

I might actually be smarter than her but I had more years of experience to call upon which gave me an edge.

"Oh I already spoke with Mr. Lovegood. I found him before I spotted you" explained the Minister.

Hardly surprising given his outfit. Not many people wore tinsel sown into their dress robes after all.

"He thinks that it is a wonderful idea for his daughter to move a year up but it only made sense if both of you wished. I wanted to see what you thought before I brought it up with Dumbledore again".

This guy really wanted to get on my good side and that worried me because I didn't have access to the Mafloy money yet. He had to know that I couldn't bribe him like Lucy 'isn't my hair effeminate' Malfoy I just didn't have that kind of cash to throw around at least not for another four or five years.

It was possible that he was thinking long term. By getting into my good books now and by doing me favours he might be thinking that in a few years when I had the money that I'd want to return the favours. If so Fudge was smarter than he looked.

Also if this was true then I might as well take advantage since if events stayed on track he wouldn't be in office by the time I turned seventeen. And even if was I could afford to repay him. Plus if things got out of hand I still had my escape hatch. That made me worry about the future a lot less.

"Well were Luna goes I go" I told the Minister.

"Wonderful" replied Fudge "I'll talk to Dumbledore about this later. For now I wanted to ask for a favour Damien".

Here it came. What was this going to cost me?

"As you might be aware England will be hosting the final match of the World Cup next summer and there is another event taking place soon after that which will involve a lot of work with the Ministries counterparts in Europe".

Well Britain was part of Europe so I assumed he meant the rest of Europe namely the two countries that the other schools taking part in the Triwizard Tournament were in.

"Now I had arrangement with Lucius Malfoy. He was going to pay host to some of the more important foreign diplomats. But due to his passing the home is no longer open for us to use. So what I was hoping was that you would allow the Ministry to make use of what is now called Mason Manor to house our nation's guests for the World Cup and for the event to follow".

Well that wasn't to bad. I'd thought that the Minister's favours would be more costly but I was getting an award and a chance to skip a year of school all in exchange for letting the Ministry use a house I had no intention of stepping foot in. At least not until I was an adult.

Still I wished they'd asked my permission before they went and cleaned out the place out of dark artefacts. Although thinking on it that raid made a lot more sense now. Fudge had planned this all in advance.

I was surprised that was actually bothering to ask permission. Madam Longbottom must of kicked up a fuss about the raid. Or maybe teachers had told Fudge that I was behind the Outcast newsletter. Which would make him ask me nicely so I didn't kick up a fuss by mentioning in the newsletter. Also it could be that the law did allow them to raid a property without a warrant but it didn't allow them to make use of private properties without permission.

"Of course Minister" I replied with false cheerfulness "I have other arrangements for housing until I leave school and as far as I am aware no one is actually using the house so I see no reason why it can't be used by the Ministry. Madam Longbottom is taking care of things for me so you might need to talk to her to make sure the Manor is stocked..."

Fudge interrupted.

"Oh there's no need to worry about the details Damien" he assured "I have people you will ensure that the house is kept clean and well stocked. We'll even compensate you for any damage and have the place cleaned top to bottom once were done with it".

More likely the House Elves would be doing all that.

I noticed that my head of house was standing behind Fudge. Either he had something important to discuss with me or he was worried about the Minister taking advantage of me. I suspected that it was both Fudge wasn't know for caring about the opinions of children.

Skilfully Dumbledore moved in to distract the Minister while Professor Flitwick tool me aside.

"Damien I need a quick word with you" said the part goblin teacher".

Teachers wanting a quick word with me was in my experience rarely a good thing. I was starting to wonder if I should just steal a bottle of Firewhisky and find somewhere to hide for the rest of the night.

"What would you like to talk about, sir? I asked the pint sized professor.

Flitwick was normally quite a jolly fellow. He was rare for him to raise his voice when talking to his students and he taught in a way that was both entertaining and informative. But right now he looked every bit the serious adult.

"Its about you and Miss. Lovegood moving up a year. It was my idea and I think it is a good one".

So Fudge was telling the truth about that. I'd assumed he'd tried to arrange it in order to get on my good side.

"You both have the highest grades seen in years and I have noticed that you have both made friends with students in the third year".

That was true. Aside from Ginny I had no friends in my year. I wasn't even that close to Ginny as she was Luna's friend really. Plus her crush on Potter was annoying to say the least. She never said anything about it to me or to Neville as far as I knew but I'd overheard things she'd said to Luna. She seemed convinced that she would marry the Boy-Who-Lived despite having a said total of three words to him while in my presence. I found Susan and Hannah far more likeable company despite the fact that they could both gossip at an Olympic level.

"I'm up for it sir" I told the Charms teacher before he could ask "to be honest so far the school work has been a little to easy for me".

Professor Flitwick nodded.

"I suspected as much. Neither you or Miss. Lovegood seemed to struggle with your exams or any homework and your clearly having problem relating to your classmates".

In their defence your first year at a boarding school is never easy. Back then lot of my fellow first year Claws had been adjusting to the work pace while battling home sickness. Even the Purebloods had needed time to get use to using so much magic. The books and the films don't make you realise how hard Hogwarts is to get us to using magic Muggleborns have to deal with that a lot of what they thought as impossible is possible. Trying to master magical powers while finding yourself a place socially and its no wonder I avoided them I just wouldn't of been able to cope with the angst they were producing.

"The Headmaster has left it up to me to deal with" explained the Charms teacher "I think having you both move up a year is for the best. I'll make the arrangements so that you can start your third year after the holidays".

I nodded to show my agreement.

"Now to your electives. Miss Lovegood is taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Which I'm sure you already knew".

She had mentioned she planned to take those subjects and I did not envy her. From what I'd heard both classes were really tough.

"Now before he died your Father filled out the needed paper work. You can of course change your electives but that would against your Father's will".

Which would mean I wouldn't inherit the Mason family fortune. Although even if the will wasn't followed there wasn't anyone else to alive to take the money so really it was a matter of honouring the will. Even in the event that someone had a claim to that fortune (which was unlikely given that any adult closely related enough to me to get the money would also be responsible for my care due to Wizarding law) I still had the Malfoy family fortune. But being able to decide what exams I took wasn't worth forfeiting my inheritance over.

Also since forfeiting the will that would also mean getting kicked out the family (and the end of the family as well) I'd legally be required to call myself Damien Malfoy and there was no way that was ever happing.

"So your electives will be Divination and Care Of Magical Creatures. Both classes aren't very popular with Ravenclaw students" pointed out the teacher "so you'll find yourself sharing those classes with more than the Hufflepuffs".

I really didn't want to take Divination but Care Off Magical Creatures wouldn't be so bad and at least I didn't have take Muggle Studies that would be a total waste of my time.

Normally the Badgers and the Claws shared classes. So it would interesting to share classes with the Lions and the Snakes. Watching those two houses mix it up was often amusing.

"Your Father also arranged what NEWTs you would take but he took into account that you could only take certain NEWTs if you OWL grades are high enough. So you are only required to take NEWTs for Transfiguration, Charms, Defence and Potions"

Flitwick seemed rather annoyed about this. Perhaps it was rare for parents to decide what NEWTs their children took.

"If you don't you forfeit your inheritance. That's rather strict in my opinion but I don't think you will have any trouble. Obviously you don't need to pass those NEWT classes to inherit as you will turn seventeen before the exams take place".

That took some of the pressure off and I didn't fall to notice that since it was the Traveller who had actually sorted all this out what he had arranged things so that if I did skip a year I'd be in the all same classes as Harry Potter.

Given what the Traveller could do it wouldn't surprise me if had aided in putting me forward a year although I suspected that he had just foreseen that this could happen and had just made arrangements for it. But even if he had arranged all of this I wasn't complaining. A year less at Hogwarts suited me fine.

This also all meant I could be lazy and only take four NEWTs. I'd be encouraged to take five as the best jobs required at least five NEWTs but I didn't care.

Professor Flitwick turned to leave but stopped himself as he had something else to say.

"Now just remember that changing years isn't easy. If you want to come back to the second year its best to do quickly. We can call the first couple of weeks a trail run so you can change your mind without to much trouble during those two weeks. And you can always repeat the third year if doesn't work out in the long run but it would be best to finish out the year".

When the part goblin left I breathed out a sigh and found somewhere quieter to be.

"Ah Damien there you are".

Oh no not another one.

I turned to the speaker and saw that it was Albus Dumbledore

Oh fuck.

"I wondered if we might discuss a few things. Let us take a walk"

Oh double fuck

"Sure Headmaster" I said as the old man started to led me around the corridors of the Diggory's stately home.

"You know Damien that its been a long time since a young man skipped a year at Hogwarts. The last time a boy did so was back just before I became Headmaster. In fact protested that course of action".

The identity of that boy wasn't hard to guess.

"You see I refused the chance to skip a year wanting to spend more time at the school. Hogwarts has always been home to me. Aside form the dorm rooms I never did enough sharing a bedroom",

Personally I saw the place as more of a badly run insane asylum rather than a home. Then again I shouldn't judge my actual family had always a bit nuts I'd even called the home I'd grown up an asylum.

"Like you I was top of my class and made a good friend on my very first day. Despite some family issues I was well liked by my peers even if I did feel distant towards them. Again much like you".

This was not what I had thought he would talk about.

"And again like you I did not find my school work challenging so I found other things to occupy my time".

Damn he did know that I was behind the newsletter.

"Another brilliant man who again was not that different from you also rapidly surpassed his peers and began to experiment with things best not experimented with".

He meant Riddle I was sure of it. We both orphans in this world. Known to be half bloods (although technically I was a Muggleborn) smarter than those our age and also able to manipulate them with ease.

"Now unlike yourself and the young man you remind me off. I directed my energies to winning awards and getting published in some of the legitimate magazines of the time".

That remark made me think that he really did know that I was behind the Outcast newsletter so I avoided eye contact so couldn't read my mind not that I was sure that it worked that way.

Of course if he read that false mind he might think that I wasn't behind the Outcast newsletter after all which would likely led any investigation astray but I didn't what he would see so it was best to avoid eye contact and hoped that it worked that way.

Still if did think I was behind the newsletter he might think that I was just trying to exercise my intellectual muscles if so he wouldn't worry to much about the newsletter. Then again given that he seemed to trying guide to more legitimate writing he might already be concerned about the newsletter.

I'd have to tread carefully here or I could just mess with the old fart.

"So you think I should try and win some awards" I said slowly "I already won a Merlin 3rd Class what would get me a second or third?"

After pretending to give it some thought I added

"I could try to capture Black that would get me at least a 2nd class".

"No, no" insisted Dumbledore " I was referring to academic awards. Hogwarts offers a large range of optional part time classes as well as clubs which give our students ample chance to win awards. For example we have music and art classes open to third years and above. You could find many ways to occupy your time".

The Headmaster must really be worried that I would start messing with the Dark Arts. It made sense as from his point of view I was brilliant but also young and possibly naïve. Most people at the age I looked do tend to rush into things without thinking about the consequences. I did know that messing around with forbidden magic could cause problems but he didn't know that I knew and really I shouldn't know.

Something then popped into my head.

"What about Hogsmede weekends?" I asked "If I'm in third year can I join the rest of the third years when they leave the castle".

For a moment I'd thought he'd say no as while I would in third year I wasn't as old (physically) as the third year students but for reasons I could guess he said yes.

"Well you have the signed form. And you are mature for your age. Miss Lovegood can also go if she gets permission. As long as you go together and don't wander too far I see no reason why not".

Thank goddess Ravenclaw male students learn quickly to ward their beds and to cast privacy charms. The second years students were really going to hate me for this and I'd need the defences. Ravenclaws could be quite cruel when bullying and I suspected most of my peers were going to be really jealous.

Not that the reason we quickly learned those charms was to stop bullying getting privacy was very important to teenage boys. I'd even taught them to poor Neville as if anyone needed to block the noises Ron the ginger prat made it was Neville.

"Well I'll look into those clubs and such when I get back to school Professor" I promised "I'm rather good on the guitar maybe I'll take it up again".

Actually I just knew a Discworld spell that would allow to play the guitar like a pro for a few hours. Like all their spells any action tended to have a reaction so some poor bloke would lose his talent for a few hours but I didn't care it wasn't as if I planning to become a rock star.

"Very good Damien" said the Headmaster with a smile "and why don't you check out a few of the magazines in the school library. There are some good opportunities to make oneself heard in them. I myself am rather found of Transfiguration Today".

We walked in silence for a while until Dumbledore mentioned something I wanted to hear.

"Oh and I thought you'd like to know that Hogwarts will no longer being playing host to the Dementors. Its seems that a lot of concerned parents wrote to the Minsiter demanding that the Dementors be removed".

I actually had a way to kill the evil creatures but having them sent away was just as good for now but the next time one of those foul things came near me it would die. Well it would be utterly destroyed but that was fine with me.

Somewhere along the way we'd turned around and ended up back in the ballroom we'd left. How the Headmaster had navigated us both back to this point I didn't know, this house was a maze but he ended parting ways with me right were Luna was standing but not before he gave me one more piece of advice.

"Remember Damien that your chances for becoming Prefect and perhaps even Headboy depend on you not only working hard but also becoming a proper part of the school".

Neither of those positions meant anything to me. Being a Prefect could have its advantages but the actually role would be a means to an end not in of itself an honour.

"What did that senile old man want?" demanded Luna to know in an angry voice.

Her attitude shocked me I'd never heard her speak like that. I'd heard her argue before but never before had she ever sounded so angry.

I moved over to the corner of the roof and I used the _muffliato_ spell to ensure that we wouldn't be overheard. I could get away with doing magic out of school because according my research the Trace only detected magic done around a minor not the magic the minor did. It also could detect if there were other wand using people around the minor. So as long as I was in area were magic was being used frequently, like the home of a family of Purebloods or Digon Alley, I could do all the spells I wished.

"Are you moving up a year?" I asked Luna once I was sure we couldn't be overheard.

"Of course I am" she answered "I don't want to stay at school any longer than I have to. Ginny will be mad but its not like we will stop being friends with her".

I'd not realised that the red head would soon be the only Outcast left still in the second year. She was indeed going to be mad and I'd get the blame no doubt.

"Now stop changing the subject" ordered Luna "and tell me what the Headmaster wanted to talk to you about".

Since when I had I become the sub in this relationship? I was going to have to start asserting my dominance soon. Otherwise how was I suppose to led the Outcasts. Respect my authority!

Still no one wants an irate girlfriend. Not that she was my girlfriend officially but only person that difference applied to was me as it meant I wasn't getting to snog her.

Which for the first time since we'd met actually seemed like a good idea only I wouldn't as the spell I'd put up only stop people from hearing what we said not from seeing what we did. Still it was nice to know that the hormones were starting to catch up.

"He just wanted to give me some advice and to encourage me to pick up some extracurricular activities. I think he's worried that I'll get bored and start studying the Dark Arts for fun and profit".

It was a bit late but I'd only just come to his attention so it wasn't as if he could done anything before now. I'd be willing to bet that before the incident on the train he'd never even heard my name.

"I thought he might try that" said Luna "it explains why I keep seeing you trying to take pictures".

Huh? What?

"The school runs a photography course in the art class" explained the blonde "we can sign up it will make Dumbledore think were keeping busy".

I was a little worried about that as it was getting harder and harder for the Outcasts to met. If I started taking more classes I might not have time for meetings at all which I suppose was what Dumbledore wanted.

"We'll just have to have the meeting during the holidays" I said thinking out loud "maybe we can get some of those communication mirrors".

Rather than discuss it Luna took my hand and encouraged me to move back into the crowd.

"Come on lets go home we can plan the future there" she offered "in bed".

For her that meant the Rookery. These days for me that meant wherever Luna was.

Author Note:

Well it must be clear by now that I could still take this story in a few directions. I want to know if you guys think I should try and keep the story close to cannon or should I let my character really derail things.

Throw your opinions at me. I have some ideas but I want my readers to help me decided. I am after all writing this story for you guys, which makes a nice change from my other stories which are more about my fantasies and if you think those were exercises in vanity just remember that those stories are the ones I considered tame enough to put on

So should he kill Wormtail or capture him?

Should he send Moody a letter warning him about Barty Crouch Junior so that Moody goes spend most of a school year in a trunk? Bare in mind that this could prevent the return of Voldemort for years.

Or should he allow events to unfold so that he derail Voldemort's plans later?

Also I want your opinions on the Luna romance. I didn't bother with the girls at my high school because I couldn't stand them so I don't what ages are normal for guys to start getting interested in snogging and groping is to soon for the characters to start kissing?


	14. Chapter 14

War sage.

A vote for keeping things close to cannon as possible then.

Damien's knowledge wouldn't be rendered useless if things derailed its not just his knowledge of future events that's useful (and he has Luna to help him with that anyway) and keeping totally in line with the cannon time is impossible anyway but Damien's knowledge about the past and present is just as useful even the future changes a lot.

A W (Guest)

A vote for total derailment then. And as for what else you said you forgot about the Horcrux in Gringotts and the one that is inside Harry

Potter. Harry would have to die to make Voldemort's spirit fade away. And the prophecy suggests that only Voldemort can kill Harry and vice versa.

I do like your idea about Potter falling in line behind Damien. I can see Granger making friends with Damien because they are both smart and having someone who knows that burden to talk is always nice. Ron would be the problem but he wouldn't be to hard to get rid off.

Of course doing that would draw Dumbledore's attention which could be bad.

Selias

Well the real Moody might end up teaching the students the curse as it was Dumbledores idea. Although with the Outcast newsletter reporting everything to the parents that might not happen anyway as the curse is illegal after all.

Well if Wormtail dies or gets locked up and Damien stops Crouch at the World Cup then Voldemort's return would be greatly delayed which would give Damien time to deal with the other Horcrux. As for the romance I'm thinking of starting it now but having it move forward slowly as there is no need to rush things. The Yule ball would be a good time to heat things up between Damien and Luna.

Douchiesnacks

You'd think Christians wouldn't let their kids be groping at 12. And another vote to derail cannon.

Lord Edric

Not so helpful on the romance department there as I don't know what freshmen means.

And a vote for not derailing things until the World Cup. That won't be hard as unless society totally breaks down nothing stops the World Cup final.

No warning Moody but I already thought of a way around that.

Dumbledore does need to die. I'm sure I can think of a way to that will let Damien get the Elder Wand.

Redthebattler

So a vote for not totally derailing things. No warning of Moody and let Wormtail live.

Dumbledore isn't that worried about Damien right now. The Headmaster sees Damien as a possible problem later because he is smart, rich and powerful but Dumbledore also tends to see the best in people so if Damien does start to get involved more in his school life Dumbledore won't worry so much. Damien won't have that much influence until after he turns seventeen so Dumbledore knows he has years before he needs to do anything about Damien.

Hell all he did with Tom Riddle was keep an annoyingly close eye on him and he had a lot more to worry about with Riddle as Damien isn't a bully like Riddle. Dumbledore knew Riddle was trouble from the moment they met he doesn't see Damien the same way he's just concerned that Damien might start experimenting out of boredom.

Although I can see Dumbledore thinking Damien could end like Grindlewald who I don't think was ever as messed up as Riddle and may have been corrupted by overusing the Dark Arts since it doesn't seem like he spilt his soul like Riddle did.

I like the idea of there being a prophecy about Damien. No idea what such a prophecy could be about but the idea tickles me. If you can word a good sound prophecy I'll use it.

The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 14.

Hogsmede Village. Scotland. The Wizarding World.

There was Hogsmede weekend at the end of every month, or if the end of the month was a holiday it was the weekend before term ended, this ensured that the town had plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of a small army of rowdy teens and a large enough break in between their visits in order to recover.

Over all this arrangement ensured that the town got enough business to survive but not as much that drove the quiet life seeking inhabitants away.

It was also a nice break from the school work which for me wasn't that much harder even though I was now in third year but it was still enjoyable to get out of Hogwarts and I'd be able to do that a lot more often now that I could visit Hogsmede one weekend a month.

I was also enjoying the company. Luna and I were now official dating which really just meant holding hands a lot, at least for now, but it was pleasant none the less and neither of us felt any need to rush things given that we both knew we had plenty of time.

Luna and I were in the company of Neville who was tagging along or in order to give us a tour of the tiny town much to Ginny's annoyance but I had already gotten her a gift in the hopes that she'd forgive Luna and I for skipping a year and thus leaving her behind. My cunning plan was to give her some chocolate and then give her some space I was sure that'd she calm down. She had a fiery temper but like anything that burned too hot her temper burned out after a while. She'd forgive us soon.

"And that's the Shrieking Shack" Neville explained as he continued playing tour guide "Its suppose to be the most haunted place in Britain".

Which was completely untrue. The Shack wasn't even haunted. It had actually been used to contain the werewolf Remus Lupin during the full moon while he was attending school. I wondered if he was still using it or just locking himself in his office while the under the effects of the Wolfbabe potion.

"Actually Hogwarts is the most haunted place in Britain" I told Neville.

And it would remain so since I still hadn't figured out a way to exorcise ghosts. I'd found a few books that supported my idea that ghosts stuck around if they had a place to stay but the only know way to get rid of them was to destroy the place they were connected to. So if I wanted to get rid of Binns I'd have to destroy the school.

The again perhaps my plan to make him think the school had fired him would succeed. Some of the books suggested that a ghost would let go of this world and move on if give sufficient reason. For example if the Grey Lady were to forgive the Bloody Baron they would both be able to move on but that didn't seem likely.

From my studies of Binns he did indeed seemed to be attached to his job rather than the castle so making him think he didn't have the job should send him on his way.

But I'd been procrastinating, trying to avoid doing that and I now had an excuse not to at least what with the Headmaster having taken notice of me. At least the other Outcasts seemed to understand that and with it now being almost impossible for all four of us to met it seemed that the group wouldn't last much longer. Not unless we dropped Ginny and as Neville was rather found of the red head so that didn't seem likely to happen.

Perhaps once Black was either dead, captured or exonerated things would settle down enough for us to start meeting and plotting again but for now keeping things on the down low seemed to be a good idea.

I noticed that Neville seemed a bit put out about not having information Luna and I didn't. Aside from being an expert on the subject of Herbology Neville didn't have much in the way knowledge to contribute to the group and with Luna and I both skipping a year he was bound to feel a little stupid.

"How about taking us to the shops" I suggested "I've never been shopping here I don't even know what stores there are".

Neville brightened up at once and began talking in great lengths about what could be brought here in Hogsmede. I'd long ago learned how to look as if I was listening to Neville while actually not hearing a word he said so I was free to think about my problems and concerns.

My main concern these days was Dumbledore. I suspected, although I had no proof, that he was keeping an eye on me. Because of this I'd purposely kept my distance from the Golden Trio despite sharing a few classes with them. It would have been nice to extend my circle of friends to include Potter but I couldn't risk it as long as the Headmaster was alive.

It was a shame really as from what I'd observed he could really do with someone like me in his life. He suffered from the same lack of confidence that had almost crippled Neville's magical abilities and his so called friends weren't helping. Granger was always undermining his belief in his own intelligence and Ron the prat encouraged him to do the least amount of work possible. Watching the three of them action made me wonder how the Boy-Who-Lived had survived this long.

Still even if I couldn't help the future Chosen One directly then I could should be able to aid from behind the scenes even if Dumbledore was keeping an eye on me. But to do that I had to decide what I was going to do about Wormtail. It was tempting to kill the rat ,who hadn't as of yet been 'eaten' by Crookshanks as Weasly and Granger weren't fighting about it. Which meant that 'Scabbers' should still be in the tower. I could easily ask Ginny to get the rat for me and then one spell later the traitor would be gone.

I could also expose him publicly which could led to Sirius Black becoming a free man but that would be more tricky.

I'd not only have to get my hands on the rat but I'd also have to keep him contained until I could get Wormtail exposed. Perhaps I could even arrange a meeting with the Minister and dump Wormtail right in his office.

Although I didn't know how I'd explain my actions if I did that. It might be simpler all around if I just got Scabbers in his cage and had my House Elf drop him off on Madam Bones's desk with a note explaining what was going on. Of course then I'd have law enforcement on my ass which is never pleasant.

Killing the rat was starting to look really tempting but I also really wanted to see Sirius Black go free as that might get Potter away from this horrible excuse for a family.

Then again with Dumbledore around the only way was getting free of his relatives was if they were all dead. It was tempting to kill Potter's 'beloved' Aunt and Uncle but I suspected that the Blood Wards would actually protect Number Four Privet Drive from an attack by me. Although I suppose that this wouldn't stop me as I could always get to them when they weren't in house.

Potter only need his Aunt alive after all so I could just get rid of his Uncle and Cousin. I would never kill Dudley as despite my intense dislike of bullies he was still a child after all and I wasn't sure if I could actually kill even Vernon Dursely.

But perhaps I wouldn't have to I could just lock him somewhere. Or maybe I could put him under some sort of mind control and then have him confess his crimes of child abuse to the police.

A smile cross my face as I remembered a way to get rid of Vernon and Dudley Dursely with ease.

Back on the Discworld the Librarian had taught me the trick to navigating L-Space which was a part of the universe where all libraries met or at least libraries over a certain size did. It wouldn't be to hard to dump Harry Potter's Cousin and Uncle into a library somewhere on the Discworld.

I'd need my House Elf to actually get the Muggles to the library. Tizzy might even be able to transport the two Muggles directly to the Discworld as she knew where it was but I personally wanted to do it. Plus my Elf might protest if she discovered I was exiling to people best to not let her see that part.

Also I wouldn't be able to use wand magic to force them through L-Space but I could use an ageing potion to make myself look older and threaten them. I'd need them intimated as navigating L-Space was tricky I didn't want the Muggles messing it up.

Perhaps I could use my Fire Sphere spell Fireballs were good for scaring people and even if I was detected I would only get a written warning I could live with that.

As Neville led us into the Three Broomsticks I recapped my plan. I'd exile Vernon and Dudley to the Discworld. Then I would work to expose Wormtail which should get Potter out of Privet Drive and even if it didn't Potter could handle his Aunt.

"I'll get some drinks" I said to Luna and Neville.

I waited in line and tried to come up a plan to deal with Wormtail. I could use a summoning charm to get the rat. Then I'd need a unbreakable cage to hold him in.

If I remembered right there was a spell that tell if any humans were around. The book had that an Animagus would show up when using such a spell when in their animal form. I could have Luna test this on me when I was in my fox form.

So I could then have my Elf drop the rat in his cage with a note telling them that I used the spell and discovered that the rat was a human hiding as a rat. I'd have to make sure that Wormtail didn't see me so a disguise would be needed be. Thankfully House Elves could move around unseen so no one would see Tizzy drop off the rat.

Then Madam Bones, who was the honest sort according to her Niece, would have Wormtail in custody which would be proof of Black's innocence.

The Ministry might try to cover it up and nothing might chance for Potter but if I got rid of the two male Durselys then at least Harry would only have to deal with his Aunt. Perhaps their disappearance would even convince Dumbledore that Number Four Privet Drive wasn't safe.

Once I got to the bar and showed off my gold, which got me good treatment from the staff, I rather impressed a couple of older Hufflepuff girls who were hanging around the bar by buying them a round of drinks.

It took a few moments to realise that their tops had been rather low cut for the weather and that they both were rather well stacked. I was vulnerable to power of boobs again and it had cost me some gold. Damn my hormones. I really hoped that Luna hadn't notice me checking out the bosoms around here as she wasn't very well endowed in that department. Not that it matter as her I found her petite form rather attractive and it suited her, but girls could do silly things when they thought their boyfriends were eyeing other girls.

When I got to our table I noticed that Luna was reading her menu upside down which meant that she wasn't in this time line right now, at least not mentally, so she wouldn't be getting involved in any discussion.

"What's got you so happy?" asked Nev as I sat down.

I hadn't realised that I was still smiling.

"I'm young. I'm magically gifted. I'm academically successful. I'm very rich. And I have girlfriend who loves me" I said as an answer "so I should be happy".

Neville didn't share my joy so I inquired as to why he was less than cheerful.

"Why so glum, chum?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about what I have to happy about. Its not much" he explained.

That statement was incorrect and I explained why.

"Your doing a lot better in potion classes now that Snape is gone" I reminded the teenage boy "your rich too and you at least you have a grandparent around I don't have any family left"

Well not in this reality.

"So really your doing okay" I insisted "so don't be glum, chum we both have reasons to be love our lives and your Mum and Dad wouldn't want you to be sad".

It seemed as if no matter how much better off you are than those around you can always find ways in that they are in fact better off than yourself.

I'd cheered Neville up a bit but I found myself wishing that I was doing it because it was the right thing to do rather than the fact that I just wanted keep Neville happy so he would remain easy to manipulate and remain to of use to me.

To distract myself from such thoughts I looked over my menu. Wizard food wasn't that different from what my Nan would cook for me back home. Lots of stews, pies and potato dishes. I was rather found of Italian food myself but the chances of getting a Pizza in the Wizarding World were laughable. Even my House Elf couldn't just make the food I wished for appear and it wasn't as if she could stop at a Take-A-Away for a nine inch meat feast.

I hid my snigger about the other meaning the words nine inch meat feast could be used to describe and I wondered if anyone would get the joke. I didn't think anyone would given the Victorian sense of humour in these parts so I kept the pun to myself.

"Hey Nev how about a trip to the Muggle world during the Easter holidays. I'm really craving some Muggle food".

Once we'd ordered I explained to my best friend about junk food and he seemed very interested in trying some.

The House Elf made food was good but trying new things was the spice of life and all that.

I spent the time it took for our food to arrive discussing the amusements the Muggle world had to offer. It was easier to explain them than I had expected.

Neville grasped the concept of a film rather well as I explained it using terms he understood. Wizards had radios and moving pictures so the idea that a series of moving pictures could be shown to tell a story wasn't that hard he also understood that a radio could be used to provide music for the story or if done correctly.

Granted this would only explained those old black and white films they use to show with someone playing the piano as a backing track but it was the best I could do. At least it would prepare Neville somewhat for our planned trip to the cinema.

The food came and I slid the pudding I'd ordered for Luna across the table. Once my girlfriend returned to this part of the space-time continuum she be hungry as using any sort of magic, even purely mental magic, burned up lot of calories. This was how Luna remained so skinny even while eating obscene amounts of sugar.

It was also how Neville had started to lose weight. Now that he was using a wand meant for him his spell work was vastly improving and he was using more magic and thus his body weight was dropping.

This also explained why Crabbe and Goyle were so big. They could use magic but they ate too much and were rather bad at using spells. I'd heard that they were so bad at spells that they were going to have to repeat a year.

It seemed as if Slughorn wasn't going to cover for them like Snape had. Not surprising really as Slughorn only really cared for the students who looked as if they could get somewhere.

It was clear that Crabbe and Goyle weren't going to be very successful but they were Purebloods so they would likely end up with some sort of government job assuming that they didn't simply support themselves on their family money.

In fact if they weren't Purebloods they'd of been kicked out of Hogwarts I was sure of that. If I was more willing to risk Dumbledore's attentions I'd already be working on a way to get them kicked out.

As I enjoyed my steak and kidney pie (which was made with kidney beans not actual kidneys something I had worried abou for a few seconds) I noticed that Granger and the Ginger Prat were sitting quite close by and they were sort of looking in this direction as if they were looking at someone only they could see.

Potter was under his invisibility I guessed. I didn't think they were spying on me but they were talking efforts not to look at me and Granger did seem to be whispering something in the direction of the table I was sitting at.

Slowly I took my wand out and cast my favourite privacy charm. There were adult Wizards around using magic and having chats so even if someone monitoring the equipment that kept track of those under the trace it would just show that someone had used a privacy charm in order to hold a private chat near to me. But I doubted that underage magic was tracked when school was in session and it would be simply impossible to track all the spells being used in Hogsmede so I should be fine. I would have to remember to be care over Easter however as while the Ministry might turn a blind eye to me using spells in places were Muggles wouldn't be they would not be happy if I did magic with Muggles around.

It was then that I remembered that I'd destroyed a horcrux using fiendfyre while in a remote area. I'd gotten no warnings then and I should have as fiendfyre was a very dangerous spell. Perhaps the Trace wasn't on me at all. Would anyone even notice if it wasn't?

I'd have to test it at some point over Easter to make sure but for now it didn't matter.

"Potter is here under his cloak" I told Neville "do you think I should expose him?"

Nev shook his head.

"Nah it might be funny but he's not suppose to be here they won't expel the Boy-Who-Lived but it might just end him up in detention for the rest of the year".

True and there was no need to inflict such a fate on the future Chosen One he'd never done anything bad to me after all.

Luna returned to the present and was delighted to discover I'd gotten her some pudding my kindness earned me a kiss on the cheek was sweet. Neville made a joke about being a third well but I countered by pointing out that we could just invite Hannah to join us as she was his arranged bride to be.

That shut him up fast.

Luna then made some odd comment about us being watched and just for a second I would of sworn that I felt someone move behind me but the presence was quickly gone.

I wasn't worried as none of us had said anything that three teenagers shouldn't have been saying. But I had to wonder if Potter had been spying on us or if he was just moving around slowly in his invisibility cloak in order to avoid being caught.

"Come on let's get to the shops" I said to the two other Outcast members.

We'd be much harder to overhear if we stayed on the move and stuck to the crowds. Plus my gold was burning a whole in my pocket and now that I had a girlfriend to spoil I really wanted to spend some money on her.

Who'd ever of imagined that I would be eager to go shopping. Wonders did indeed never cease.


	15. Chapter 15

**Lord Edric **

**House Elves are awesome and indeed they are the perfect cheat. No one sees them no one thinks about them but it the right hands they are the perfect spies and agents as long as you don't ask them to hurt anybody as they don't seem to be good fighters aside from Dobby. **

**Ethorin **

**I'm not sure I could do a decent prophecy maybe I could find something on the Net to help me. That or one of my reviewers will help me to write one. **

**douchiesnacks **

**True it is the quiet and reversed ones who are normal quite crazy in bed. I have more than one ex who is living proof of this. **

**Granger could become friends with Damien as the Golden Trio is due to have a fight. Damien got rid of Scabbers after all so the Ginger Pig could still end up blaming Granger and she could crack under the pressure. The Damien will make his move which is this chapter. **

**Guest**

**"He will enter this world from another by the power of a god. He will gather the weak and make them powerful beyond measure, loyal to him. Few will know his mind and the future of all will be decided by his chose".**

**I think you meant choices at the end there not chose and it should be he entered this world as he's already there. Other than that could work the bit about him deciding the future hints that he could nullify the main prophecy which would make things more **

**And I like the idea of Potter and Granger being friends with Damien but I see Dumbledore getting in the way and killing Ron is a bit extreme I have something else planned for the Ginger One which will be nasty. **

**A W.**

**Actually Dumbledore is manipulating people in this story he actually got succeeded in manipulating Damien its just that Damien saw right through it and went along with the Headmaster's plans for his own reasons. Mostly it was to make Dumbledore think he controls Damien at least somewhat. Of course some of it is Damien's paranoia the Headmaster isn't actually keeping that close of an eye on Damien, as he has other concerns but Damien doesn't know that the Headmaster isn't really that concerned. **

**Well Petunia stays inside her house so the Blood Wards might actually be effective in protecting her and Damien won't risk Tizzy for that. Dobby never actually attacked any with the intent to do harm so while its cannon that House Elves can get to Harry Potter they not be able to enter Number Four if they are going to kidnap someone. Vernon can be grabbed at work and Dudley is at school so they are more vulnerable. **

**Also the Blood Wards might actually be helping to keep Harry alive. He's escaped death to many times for it to be dumb luck and as long as he has his Aunt around then he has somewhere to live. **

**Also remember how Wizarding law works in this story. If Sirius doesn't get custody of Harry once he is cleared than Harry might end up having a guardian who is a Death Eater as his guardianship would pass to next nearest living relative. Petunia is also rather harmless by herself. **

**In this chapter you will see Damien start to break up the Golden Trio he just had to wait a little while to make his move. Given how stressed Granger was in her third year it was just a matter of time before she breaks down in this story and then lets her guard down. Then Damien can then start to manipulate her. **

**Then he starts on getting rid of Ron. Exiling him to the Discworld would be a bad idea because Ron would open a whole to the Dungeon Dimensions before the end of day one and again killing him is a little ****extreme. I have a plan but it will have to wait till fourth year. **

**I think Granger is salvageable she does learn that authority figures aren't perfect in the Order Of the Phoenix she actually comes up with the ideas of Dumbledore's Army after all. **

**Percy Weasley isn't going to be around much longer he starts working at Ministry in book four so he will be gone from Hogwarts soon. Plus I'm not that cruel Percy is a torment I would wish upon no one. **

**I think there was more but I explain what I'm doing any further than there will be no point in my writing the story. I like discussing my stories but if you want to discus to this lengths I suggest creating an account, or logging in if you have one, and then messaging me so I fully reply to your opinions and suggestions. There is a lot to keep track of in your reviews so it would just be easier that way. **

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 15.**

**The Library. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

I was feeling rather pleased with myself these days.

I'd captured Wormtail and sent him off to Madam Bones with an anonymous note. Days later the Daily Prophet had reported that the nation wide hunt for Sirius Black was being cancelled and that Peter Pettigrew was now rotting in a cell with the Dementors.

It was all out in the open now everyone knew that Wormtail was the real traitor and that Black was innocent. So far there'd been no word on if Sirius had been made an officially free man or not but that could just be a case of Rita Skeeter having not found the story yet.

However given that Dumbledore was running the show the whole thing was most likely being handled behind the scenes. Fudge would support dealing with this issue as quietly as possible as this all could end up being a great embarrassment to the Ministry.

They had after all illegally thrown Black into prison and denied him a trial if he'd been guilty it wouldn't of really mattered but since he is now known to be innocence ,proven by the fact Wormtail is alive, the whole situation could become what I believe is called a 'media circus'.

It was actually rather a shame that there seemed to be no investigation going on as it was Barty Crouch Senior who locked Sirius Black away without a trail. If the department of law enforcement did go and investigate Crouch Senior they might find Crouch Junior hidden away in his home. If they did that then the only two Death Eaters both willing and able to help return their master to power would be dealt with.

Still I had tickets to the World Cup and if Crouch Junior was there I would deal with him. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to kill the Mort Muncher but I should at least be able to sneak up on him and stun him when he casts the charm that makes the Dark Mark appear. If Crouch Junior was sorted out then Voldemort wouldn't be returning for a while and that suited me just fine. But that would have to wait until the World Cup until then I only had to exile two thirds of the Durselys and I could relax for the rest of the year.

I was also feeling happy for another reason. Aside from that fact that my plots and schemes were going well my school life was going equally as well.

At the suggestion of Albus, I have to many middle names, Dumbledore I'd joined some of the school clubs and I was also taking part in the extracurricular classes here. Not only was I enjoying them because I was actually rather good at art and music now (which I hadn't been before I could assume that the Traveller had added these skills when improving me) but it also kept the Headmaster off my back.

Given the Headmaster's belief in the power of love it might also be a good thing that I was publicly dating. If he thought I was in love then he wouldn't think I was turning to the DARK SIDE OF MAGIC!

Well not unless that whole 'power of love' thing was something Dumbledore only pretended to believe in. If so well what the hell I was still dating a girl who had to be reminded to wear clothing when she got into bed with me.

So long as I kept looking as if I was keeping busy by attending extra classes, taking part in social events and dating then the Headmaster wouldn't suspect that I was the one behind the derailing of his plans. Or at least he would have no reason to suspect me and even if he did he had no proof. That might not stop the lemon candy lover from trying something but I had prepared for that day as best I could and I had an escape plan ready. More than one actually.

As today was a rather peaceful day so I was going to try navigating L-Space in order to reach the library at the Unseen University. This was my other planned escape route so I figured I should do a practice run to make sure it worked.

For once I was actually alone. Neville was doing something in the greenhouse and Luna was off doing something girls do with Ginny, Hannah and Susan. I had no idea what that was and I really didn't want to know truth be told. I was looking forward to having a Sunday afternoon to myself.

It was rare that I got time to myself these dats so I was going to use it wisely. I was going to head to the library at the Unseen University in order to test my L-Space escape route and to acquire another spell. Doing so should be safe now as many Wizards who attended the Unseen University had four spells or more in their minds at my level of education and I was a lot more gifted than most of them.

I was just about to make use of L-Space, which involved hopping backwards at this point, when I heard someone crying.

Focusing on the noise I discovered that it was a girl crying it wasn't very loud but I could tell that it was a girl shedding tears.

This wasn't that unusual a sound here at the school. Homesick kids often cry but it was well past Christmas now and from my experience the students were use to being away from home by this time so that couldn't be the reason why some poor girl was crying.

Feeling curious I slowly made my way through the stacks and ducked my head as a pile of books floated past.

I peered around one shelf of stargazing textbooks and saw who it was that was crying.

Hermione Granger was on the floor weeping. This wasn't the kind of crying that people did when they were in some sort of pain or in morning for someone they had lost this was the weeping of someone in despair someone who was trying to hide their crying but they just couldn't.

I'd seen this sort of things before these were tears of someone having a bad time emotional but this wasn't about expressing those emotions Granger was trying to hide her sadness but it was too overwhelming to be contained. Things had built up to this point and like the pressure of a volcano leading up to an eruption she'd blown her top and now couldn't stop. It was the kind of crying that made even people like me feel great amounts of sympathy.

She hadn't noticed me at all and I wasn't hiding any more I was trying to figure out what to do. I should comfort her it wouldn't be the first time I'd cheered up a crying woman up but I didn't really know Granger. In fact I didn't really like her as a person.

Yet another part of me was thinking that I should comfort her because she might be grateful and that could be useful if I needed a favour some time down the road. That was kind of nasty for me to think but at least it wasn't what was motivating me. So I stood there and after a long while she seemed to calm down enough to notice her surroundings so I made my presence know before she detected me.

"Granger, what's the matter?" I asked

I tried very hard to sound as if I cared. Which admittedly I did just not in the way I should have.

"Oh hi Damien" she said while trying to avoid eye contact "I didn't see you there".

I doubted she would of noticed me standing there before now even I had suddenly transformed into a one man band and started belting out a version of when the Saints come marching in.

With a wave of my wand I conjured up a handkerchief which the teen took with gratitude. I then sat down next to here and conjured up a clay cup before filling it with water. Conjuration magic was tricky stuff and none of them items I had created would last very long but it was a good branch of magic to know at times like this.

"Thank you" the third year muttered while taking the cup.

We were both totally silent for a while until Granger said something.

"That's really advanced magic. I've read about conjuration but I've not tried of the spells".

I smiled and said.

"I don't even like transfiguration its a silly subject in my mind. I mean when are we ever going to need a button but have a beetle nearby ready to replace said button. And that whole match to needle thing why on Earth would I have matches around when I create fire with a flick of my wand".

Granger was almost too shocked by my statement to argue but she found a way.

"But your really good at it" she protested "better than me!"

I snorted.

"Of course I'm good at it. I'm a Ravenclaw were all good at school work and I am a total genius"

I had no proof of that but I strongly suspected that my intelligence had increased to the point where I was in fact a real genius.

"But mostly I'm good magic because I know it works".

I got a confused look so I explained.

"Its not hard you just have to convince yourself that magic works. When you transfigure something don't worry about visualising it or the words or the wand movements those are all like training wheels on a kid's bike, sure they help you to ride the bike but you don't need them once you know how not to not fall over. Really all you need to know is that it's going to work. Have faith in yourself and in the magic".

Hopefully that made some sort of sense to her. It did to me because I'd always known the magic would work. I'd never doubted that the spells would work and I'd discovered that you didn't need the fancy words and the movements as long as you knew it would work. I think its more a matter of confidence than anything else.

Granger took out her wand and twirled it. Nothing happened but few wand spells are successful the first time you try them. Well at least for other people, for me I just had to have seen the spell in action and I knew that it would work.

On her third try Granger made the cup appear and she marvelled at the power she possessed.

"Its really easy once you know you can do it".

I nodded and said.

"Confidence is everything, well that and intent. You just have to know it will work".

Granger nodded and said.

"I can't remember the last time I just sat down and talked to someone like this".

Well having three times as much work as everyone else will do that to a person.

"I've noticed that your stressed a lot and fighting with your friends" I commented "is something the matter?".

"I..." the teen hesitated but in the end she told me about what was bothering her.

While we weren't exactly strangers it was odd for people to open up so easily to each other. I guessed that it had something to do with my power of enhanced charisma. People seemed to trust me and they opened up to me rather easily despite the fact that I wasn't really friends with them.

"I can't cope" she admitted "Its to much with the work with Ron shouting at me and Harry he has to deal with his godfather..."

She'd been about to say something I shouldn't know so I made sure that the discussion avoided that subject. It would be nice to know if Sirius was a free man or not but there was no reason for me to know nor should I care so asking about it would be a bad idea.

"I've never understood why you hang with that guy he's not very likeable"

"Who Ron?" she asked.

"Yes" I replied "I'm friends with Ginny I've seen how Ron treats her. He is not a good brother".

"Well he has issues" defended Granger "he got all these successful brothers.."

"That's no excuse for being an insensitive prick" I said interrupting "I've seen him trying to undermine you and he blames you for his pet rat vanishing. As if its your fault that a cat eats a rat that's what they do. Cats eat rats. You can't control that its what animals do".

Everyone in the school knew about the cat eating the rat the rumour mill at this school was very efficient.

"Its because of Harry" Hermione admitted "Ron is friends with Harry that's why I am friends with Ron".

"And that's lucky for Ron" I told her "if the Boy-Who-Lived hadn't been in that flying car with Ron then he would have been expelled for sure but Dumbledore wouldn't expel Harry so he couldn't expel Ron either".

Granger seemed to give my statement some thought before answering.

"I think your right" she agreed in the end "he did break loads of laws with that stupid car. Harry would have to kill someone or burn the school down to get expelled".

Actually Harry had killed his Defence Teacher in his first year. Funny how no one seems to remember that. It was a clue cut case of self defence no question about that but I found it worrying that no one seemed to remember. Did Potter himself realise that he was a killer?

"Not that he ever would, so as long as Ron sticks close to Harry he can get away with breaking the rules".

I'd never of thought that turning Hermione Granger against Ron the Pig would be this easy. I'd hardly had to say anything and she was realising that the Ginger Nut wasn't worth the oxygen he used with his breathing.

"Its always him who argues with me. He always wants to play games and avoid work and I always end up helping him. He wouldn't of even passed his exams without me. He even drags Harry down he'd do so much better if Ron wasn't around".

She started to cry again, only it was a different kind of tears this time, I put my arm around her and all the time I was thinking that this was all too easy. I wondered if it was because she was so emotional tired or if it was because of my enhance charisma. Perhaps it was both or maybe she'd just never had anyone she could say this stuff to. It didn't matter, in the end if she cut herself off from Ron the Dick it would be worth while.

But it did raise the question: would Harry chose Ron over Hermione?

Granger had to be asking herself the same question and that might explain how she ended up with her head buried into my shoulder. She was latching on to any human contact she could because she might soon lose her only friend.

"I'm done with Ron" she promised either me or herself.

It was then I remembered that I had one of those Fox Head amulets left. Actually I had a few but none of them were enchanted so I could give her one and perhaps invite her to join the Outcasts.

Granger was in many ways a good recruit for the Outcasts. She was a Muggleborn which would be a nice change from having all those Purebloods around. She was also smart and bound to be one of the Prefects in a couple of years perhaps she would even work with Neville rather than Ron. She was also a lot more likeable a person once she opened up.

On the other hand she was far to trusting of authority figures right now and she would expose the Outcasts in a heartbeat due to her faith in Dumbledore.

The trust she felt made it too dangerous to let her into the group. It wasn't her fault she just was for all her cleverness rather naïve and too trusting.

Over time perhaps I could led her away from the Dumbledore is awesome party and into the Outcast camp but that would take a while. Convincing her that Ron the Jerk wasn't her friend was easy enough but it would be no where near as easy to convince her that Dumbledore wasn't to be trusted.

I took the spare amulet from my school bag and handed to her.

"Its for good luck" I told her "or just a present really but I give them to my friends so here".

Wow smooth. James very smooth.

Hermione took the gift and then looked up at me, Before I knew what was happening she was hugging me so hard my ribcage felt like it was being crushed in a vice. Well it could be worse she could of tried to kiss me that would have been kinds of awkward but hugging was okay or at least it would be once I could breathe again.

Given how embarrassed she looked after I wondered if she thought about kissing me but that seemed doubtful I was a year younger than her and we only just started our friendship.

Plus she knew I was with Luna as did everyone did by now. It wouldn't shock me in the least if the news was in Teen Witch Weekly.

Nah more likely was a case of the poor girl simply being overwhelmed with my offer of friendship.

It didn't seem as if she'd ever been asked be someone's friend she'd just sort of fallen in to Harry's life which to be fair that was normally how it worked few people ever asked someone to be their friend such things just tended to develop.

Hermione and I talked for what seemed like hours. I spent that encouraging her to express her ideas and to think more about what she was learning. She needed to cut down on her work load rather badly so she would have to decide what she would drop.

"Muggle Studies is useless" I argued "you could teach that class".

"But it fascinating to see how Wizards view Muggles".

I doubted that the books told her how most Wizards really viewed Muggles. I'd gotten the impression that even the nicest of Wizards viewed Muggles as mostly harmless creatures who made interesting things without using magic. The darker Wizards often saw them as either threats or something barely above animals.

"But its not going to help your carer" I pointed out "well not unless you want a carer in Anthropology".

Granger gave in as I had made a good point.

I also reminded her a few times that she could live without Potter and Weasley in her life. By the end of that discussion I had her half convinced that it would be a good idea to purposely destroy the friendship between the Boy-Who-Lived and the Boy-Who-Chews-With-His-Mouth-Open.

She wasn't quite ready for something like that as it was still early days, in fact it was the first day, but she agreed not to try to moderate her opinions about Ron the Pig around Potter any more she would no longer play nice for Harry's sake.

"Its for the best" I assured the swot after some very carefully chosen words "Ron's jealously will shine through in the end and so even if Harry does chose Ron over you, in the end he will realise his mistake and he will come running back to you for help. And at that point you make him beg just a bit you have to hold off, at least until he uses the puppy dog eyes".

That got me a few laughs and we talked about Muggle stuff for a while. I had plans with Neville for Easter but he'd understand if I snuck off to visit Hermione for a few hours during that week, to do something Muggle with the girl.

All the time we talked while I slowly twisted the girls views on things there was in the back of my head a voice saying 'dance puppet dance' which was a bit worrying but I eased my concerns by reminding myself that this was for the best however that just made me feel worse as it was rather close to the whole idea of 'The Greater Good'. Maybe I really was the next Grindlewald but if I was then at least it was better than being the next Voldemort.

Or at least that was what I was going to keep telling myself. Perhaps one day I might even believe it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author Note:**

I've decided to make Dumbledore evil in this story as Damien needs someone to fight. I know I said before that Dumbledore was not evil in this story but rather a well meaning chess master who has forgotten that the pieces he moves around are people with feelings rather than an evil mastermind who is manipulating everyone but I think that has to change plus at the end of the day plus I'm not sure there is much different between the two. Heck Dumbledore doesn't need to be evil on the level of Voldemort to be master manipulator as he can even think he's doing the right thing when manipulating people but that's still evil.

I'm making him evil because I really didn't think that this story would take so long to advance. This is chapter 16 and were only at 3rd year but I need something to keep the plot moving because its just going to get repetitive at this rate. Sorry if this disappoints but I think the story needs a bad guy and Voldemort is to easy to neutralise.

Someone also mentioned if I was going to write other people's views about Damien I've decided to that as its a nice change of pace. I hope it works as part of the story.

**Reviews**

V

I have dyslexia so I'm going to make mistakes like that. Still if you see any mistakes that make the story hard to read do let me know.

CookieMonsta1233

I don't know why it keeps appearing all in bold the documents I'm uploading aren't all in bold.

Selias

It might be a while before Hermione joins the Outcasts but it will happen once she comes to understand how the Wizarding World works.

mpop

Again I say that I am not uploading the story in bold text. I just changed the last two chapters so only the review replies and the title are in bold.

douchiesnacks

Its a well suited title.

Lord Edric

That's a good way of looking at it. Being a Dark Lord is better than being a waste of space like Ron.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 16.**

**Muggle Restaurant. London. England. **

This place was a lot posher than the planned trip to Pizza Hut but I had a lot of spending money these days and given the exchange rate my trust fund seemed no smaller now that is was a or so thousand pounds lighter. Also given that it was the 1990's a thousand pounds goes a lot further than it would in my native time of 2013.

However regardless of the decade it wasn't easy for two teenage boys to get a table without a reservation, but thankfully money talks and a fifty pound tip to the Greeter handled the negotiations for me with the skill of an experienced diplomat.

Still even with the money we very nearly didn't get a table as neither Neville or I were dressed 'right' and its hard to take thirteen year old boys seriously even when they have money to throw around. But in the end we got our table and I thanked my High School French Teacher for all her hard work as I at least knew some of what was written on the menus.

The restaurant would be a safe place to talk as well as eat as I doubted many Wizards could even imagine that Muggles had fine dining places such as these never mind actually make use of them but it still took great restraint for me not to cast a few privacy wards.

Normally even I wouldn't worry about being overheard in a place like this but Neville had been up to stuff that may or may not have been illegal so my cautiousness was understandable.

"I can't believe we did that" said Neville after we finished ordering.

"Did what? I asked "Destroy a Horcrux. Exile two Muggles to another world or was the trip to cinema that has you disbelieving today's events".

Neville shot me a look of astonishment as if he couldn't believe I could be so calm about the days events.

"But we went to another world!".

"Keep in down Nev" I chided "and it wasn't that amazing".

"But that university was on another world" he said in a softer tone of voice.

I suppose I couldn't really blame the young Wizard for being so amazed by what he had seen today. The Muggle world had many delights and pleasures if you knew how to find them but while Neville had been somewhat prepared for exploring the Muggle world the other things we'd done today were things he'd had no time to prepare for. No wonder he was feeling so overwhelmed.

"Well I did warn you" I reminded the teen "and you wanted to help".

"Yeah but I had no idea how powerful you are" said Nev.

I wondered if I should tell him about the Traveller and how that that entity was responsibly for me being as powerful as I appeared to be but I wasn't sure that he would be able to understand the concept. Yet it did serve my interests to have him think that I was a very powerful Wizard.

For a few moments I thought about giving them same speech that I had given Granger the one about having confidence in oneself and in the magic but in this case that would all just be lies as the real reason why I was so powerful was because I had knowledge other people didn't and knowledge was real power.

"I can help you become more powerful" I told Neville "there's some stuff I never showed the rest of the Outcasts".

Luna had admitted that she'd taught Ginny, Hannah and Susan how to Burrow so it was only fair that I taught Nev something.

"Your home has a library right?" I asked.

Neville nodded and said

"Sure there's a big one by the study".

For some reason I spent the next few seconds day dreaming about what it would be like to be the Dark Lord. Luna would be my version Bellatrix insane and very dangerous a dark power in of herself. Neville would be my version of Malfoy he would use his wealth and political know-how to keep the likes of Fudge in line. I'd be Voldemort but I'd work more behind the scenes rarely seen but always there.

That idea made me smirk. It would be so easy to make that dream a reality. Well perhaps not easy it would take some effort but it was possible. But it was just an amusing fantasy. I'd never cross the line between darkness and light even I did come close to doing so now and again. Staying on the line as a 'Grey Wizard' was much better.

Our meals arrived and I got to work cutting up a steak which had been served with a rather mild pepper sauce. It was nice but I didn't really think it was worth the cost. Still I had high hopes for desert.

"I can take you back to that University" I offered my best friend"the one we watched those Muggles get ejected from".

That had been amusing. Discworld Wizards weren't like the Wizards of this world they tried to use magic as little as possible but being called freaks and then being attacked by two whale sized humans had been more then staff had been willing to put up with.

Vernon and Dudley Dursely had been shown why it was a bad idea to insult magical humans. The two Durselys had been ejected from the building using some spell I never seen before.

They'd landed in the Ankh river and started to drown which an accomplish in of its self given that most people bounced off that river due to all the rubbish in it. The City Watch had fished them out when last I saw them and hopefully I would never see either of them again.

"That world has spells that sort of stick in your head so you don't forget them and you don't need a wand for them either".

Wandless magic was rarely used in the Wizarding World due to the fact that it was a lot harder to learn and Wizards are rather lazy. It also required a lot more effort and it was harder to control.

Wands were a great means to focus magic which was why they were used but being to dependant upon them was foolish as if the wand was taken away the Wizard was often helpless. Still they did at least help to prevent accidental magic, which could be done right dangerous, and the sheer range of spell one could perform with a wand made it worth while to use them.

Oddly despite my power I had no noticeable skill with Wandless magic I hadn't even been able to move the smallest of things with my mind. It was rather annoying but I didn't think it meant that there was anything wrong with me. My lack of skill with Wandless magic could have something to do with the fact that I'd never done any accidental magic. If I had perhaps I'd be able to access that sort of magic on purpose. Or maybe I just needed to get more emotional when trying. I didn't suffer from a lot of the angst most people my current ago had to endure I was compared to my peers a rather controlled person. But no matter what the reason it was still rather frustrating that I couldn't just make things happen without using wands or spells.

"What sort of spells do they have at that university?" inquired Neville between bites of some French dish that I was barely able to pronounce.

That was a hard question to answer but I gave it ago.

"It really depends on what sort of spell you think you might need. I have two spells myself" I lied "A type of fireball spell and shield spell".

The shield spell had a silly name but it was rather handy as it made the air in front of the caster solid. I'd picked that one because it should stop the Killing Curse as solid barriers did stop that curse. Granted that shield might explode in a spectacular fashion if struck my the Unforgivable Curse and while that could possibly kill me the Killing Curse would kill me if it struck me so the solid air shield spell was worth knowing.

As for the guitar thing I wasn't going to mention that as it involved stealing (for a short time) the talent of another person. I didn't want anyone to know I wasn't as talented as I appeared to be. Not even Neville.

"Guess I'll just learn those ones as well" decided Neville.

Despite having helped him to become a lot more confident Nev still wasn't much of a risk taker. Still no one wants their sidekick to outshine them so I wasn't going to complain if he decided to stay in my shadow.

"So what did you and Granger get up to yesterday?"

That question came out of nowhere and I sensed some major hostility behind it. I knew that Nev didn't like Hermione (I didn't think anyone but Potter liked her much at all given how much of a control freak she could be) but I'd never gotten the impression that he hated her even if he did dislike her bossy attitude and homework tyranny.

Then it occurred to me that he might feel threatened by my new friendship with the bushy haired one. Lord save me from possessive friends.

I'd of thought that Luna would be the one feeling threatened given that I was showing a girl who wasn't her some attention but given that she could see the future she'd know if there was anything to be really threatened by.

Then again given that Luna was well Luna she might not care if dated someone else (as unlikely as that was) as the arranged marriage didn't require me to remain a virgin and she free spirited enough to understand that I might want to have sex with more than one woman for the rest of my life. Which given that I was a powerful Wizard could be a few hundred years.

Also she did know with certainty that I would send up marrying her no matter what schoolboy romance I went through. Not that such a thing seemed likely to happen as I found most of the girls in the school only bearable in small doses.

"Not much" I said to Nev trying to word my answer carefully "just some Mug... stuff". Best not to use that word to much public "We went to a mall, ate junk food. Confused the kids she went to primary school with".

That had actually been rather funny as like myself Granger hadn't been very popular at primary school so upon running into some of the kids who'd bullied her I'd started to act the part of her rich boyfriend and thrown some money around. Which had been mostly a waste since none of the technology I'd brought could be used at Hogwarts but for a while it had been nice to own some shiny gadgets.

Sometimes I really, really missed being able to watch television and being able to listen to music that didn't require you to crank a handle before it started. Wizarding Radio was awful and they didn't even have movies.

Granted Four Weddings and a Funeral wasn't my type of film but being able to go to the cinema twice in one week was glorious even if Lightning Jack also wasn't my kind of film.

"Is Granger going to be joining the Outcasts" questioned Neville.

That idea was laughable right now and I failed to hide my mirth.

"Oh god no" I replied "Granger would tell the Professors what we were up to before the end of the first meeting. She has way to much faith in authority figures and let's face it the kind of stuff we plot would get us into major trouble".

Neville seemed assured now so the subject was changed.

"Now that Black is innocent things should calm down at the school" I pointed out "we can't start having Outcast meetings again".

"Are you going to finally exorcise Binns?" inquired Neville.

I was getting rather tired of the Binns issue but I couldn't blame Nev for wanting to get rid of that ghost. More so than ever Binns seemed to be trying to drive most of his students into a short lived boredom comas during his lessons.

The only reason I hadn't already burned the ghosts grave was because I was worried about Dumbledore.

I worried that the Headmaster was evil and that if he suspected I was behind the derailment of his plans that I would end up being his enemy. If only I knew for sure as if I did know for certain that the Headmaster was a bad person then I'd be okay with ruining his plans.

It was then that I realised that there was a way for me to know for sure. Luna would know she would have had some vision that showed the truth.

"I'm going to use the loo" I lied while reaching for the small communications mirror I kept on me so I could talk to Luna whenever I wished "I'll be right back".

With that I headed somewhere quiet so I could ask my girlfriend a few questions and hopefully get some answers. Then I'd tell myself off for not asking her sooner as that would have been the smart thing to do.

**The Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School. Scotland.**

Far north of where Damien and Neville were enjoying a fine meal in Muggle London Albus Dumbledore was also eating only he was eating alone (well not alone Fawks was there) and he was also wondering if some one was evil.

Damien Mason was, as the Muggles might say, 'a mystery inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma' he was immensely puzzling to figure out, very much so considering that even the great Albus Dumbledore couldn't solve the puzzle that was Damien Mason.

The Headmaster for the life of him couldn't ever recall hearing of the Mason family until Damien arrived. If the boy had been Muggleborn then it wouldn't of mattered but the Masons were a very old Wizarding family. Dumbledore had thought that he knew all the major magical families here in Britain but somehow that family had never drawn his attention and aside from one boy that family no longer existed yet it was that one boy that concerned Dumbledore.

The Headmaster had compared Damien to a young Tom Riddle, he'd not come and directly said it but he had made the comparison. Like Tom young Damien was intelligent, charming and he was able to manipulate those around him. But truthfully Damien reminded Dumbledore more of Gellert than Tom Riddle.

Gellert had too had become an orphan just as he entered school. He'd also been a gifted student who lacking any challenges in the classroom had started to experiment with the Dark Arts due to a mixture of boredom and thrill seeking. This had gotten the young Dark Lord to be thrown out of school despite having been one of the schools most talented students and despite the fact that the school actually taught the Dark Arts.

The Headmaster had greatly feared that Damien might follow that path so he'd made an attempt to push Damien in a different direction. So far, at least, it seemed to be working. The last remaining Mason was getting more involved with the school and his fellow students. Which would reduce both the temptation to delve into the Dark Arts and the amount of time he'd have to do it in.

Dumbledore was also somewhat concerned about Damien getting close to the Boy-Who-Lived. Damien was far more confident than Potter and unlike Harry who didn't use his fame and wealth to advance himself socially Damien seemed to enjoy making new friends. Horace had spoken about Damien a few times and mentioned that Damien and Harry could be good friends.

Since they were both part of his Slugclub the potions master could indeed be right. If the two were to become good friends then Harry might be encouraged to emulate Damien and to start making friends with who Dumbledore saw as the wrong sort of people.

Damien seemed to be getting involved with politics that was defiantly something Dumbledore didn't want Harry to mess around with. If the Boy-Who-Lived came to realise just how powerful a player he could be at the Ministry, despite his youth, then it could be a major crump in the Headmaster's plans.

Albus had been very careful to ensure that Harry made friends with the right sort of people (namely the Weasly family) but now Ron and Harry seemed to be drifting apart.

That wasn't surprising as friends could drift apart after all but Dumbledore still worried about Damien replacing Ronald as Harry's best friend.

The youngest male Weasly was the perfect friend for Harry (in the Headmaster's view) so Albus might have to subtly nudge Ron back towards Potter. At least that teacher's pet Granger seemed to be distancing herself from Harry. Dumbledore didn't want Harry to work too hard as it might led to the Boy-Who-Lived using his own mind for a change.

The Headmaster was tempted to intervene more directly with Potter's life but that wasn't his style he wasn't the type of man to try and directly control people that was the way Dark Lords did things. No it was much better to work through others to be the power behind the throne. It worked just as well and was far less risky.

It was just a shame that his pet Death Eater wasn't around any more. Snape had been perfect for keeping Potter beaten down while at school and he could have been equally effective on Mason but Snape's mind was gone thanks to that fool Lockhart. With the so called 'Half Blood Prince' out of the picture Dumbledore would have to find someone else to do his dirty work.

He couldn't do it himself that would ruin the the image of a kindly old Grandfather figure that he built for himself. None of the rest of the staff could perform that role either as they were too set in their ways and he couldn't use Remus for that job as the werewolf was despite his curse a rather nice person. No Dumbledore would have to find someone else for that job.

Pouring himself a large glass of Firewhisky the Headmaster wondered if he need actually be worrying about Damien going Dark at all. Granted if he did it could be very bad for Dumbledore but Damien, unlike Tom and Gellert, seemed to have romantic interests. In Albus's experience future Dark Lord's didn't form romantic attachments. They might use an attachment someone felt to further their own ambitions but Dumbledore couldn't see how that scattered brained Lovegood could of be of any use to Mason unless he really was behind the Outcast newsletter and even the just faking a friendship would have been enough.

No if Damien was in love (or at least as close to love as a teenager could think they were) then there was little chance that he would fall to the Dark. Things like love and family were hindrances to those seeking power Dumbledore knew this far too well.

Starting to feel tired Dumbledore headed for bed. Running the magical parts of the U.K was a tiring job and he needed his rest after all being the Headmaster of Hogwarts was only one of his jobs.

**Muggle Restaurant. London. England. **

When I got back the pudding had been served and Neville had already eaten his but I'd lost my appetite. I didn't want to leave so I ordered coffee that I wouldn't drink just so I could stay sitting down. I really needed to sit and think right now, not that I'd get the chance since Neville wanted to talk.

"What's got you so glum, chum?" he asked.

I decided to tell Nev about what was bothering me and also wipe his recent memory if the reacted badly.

"Dumbledore is evil" I stated.

Neville's complete lack of reaction was more surprising to me than any sort of outburst he could of made.

"Gran's never trusted him" said my friend "he's to involved to shady dealing at the Ministry to be as good as he likes people to think".

Ah yes of course Neville Longbottom had learned politics from his Grandmother and she was old enough to remember a time when Dumbledore wasn't running the country while also beings it saviour.

"I don't mean he's evil in that sense I think he 's evil the sense that..."

It took me a few moments to think of how to express Dumbledore's level of evilness. He was far less evil Riddle but more evil than me and comparing him to Senator Palpatine without the attempted genocide of the Jedi wouldn't make sense to a Pureblood or anyone for a quite a few years to come. So lacking a comparison I just started to explain why Dumbledore was evil.

I covered everything from his gay crush on the very Dark Lord he would become famous for defeating to the fact that he was the one to dump Potter in an abusive home.

After that I reminded Nev about the whole Philosophers Stone incident and how in that Muggle world any headmaster pulling a stunt like that in a school would have at least been fired and very likely charged with Child Endangerment.

Then there was the fact that Snape a known member of a terrorist organisation had been allowed to teach at the school. If his efforts as a spy had helped save lives by risking his own then it made sense not to give him to the Dementors but no one who cared about the children they were responsible for would ever hire someone like that as a teacher.

There was bound to more evidence that Dumbledore wasn't the leader of light he appeared to be but we had to leave the restaurant soon so it was time to wrap this up.

I waited for Neville to react but he took it all rather well.

"So what are we going to do about it?" he asked.

I hadn't expected Nev to accept my view of things so easily and I was very surprised by the fact that he was already thinking about helping me deal with the Headmaster.

"We can talk about that somewhere else" I decided.

I paid for the meal with cash and left a nice tip as the service had been good. Once we had gotten past the Greeter at least.

"Come on lets get here" I said to Neville.

With that we left the restaurant and headed for Neville's home it would be safer to further discuss our plans on the Discworld but to get there I needed a library the one in Nev's house would do fine.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author Note:**

This chapter is a bit short but it has an action scene so I think it was worth putting in but other than this chapter is most filler.

**Reviews **

A.W

Nice ideas but its not that simple. Dumbledore won't wait for Damien to be a threat before taking action he's made that mistake before. And Voldemort isn't really Damien's problem they don't mean anything to each other Riddle might be a danger but he's a possible danger later Dumbledore is a here and now danger. He's a controlling chess master so he will work to bring Damien under his control over the next few years. You'll see what I mean in this chapter.

Worsfold15

Yeah he will go to a different world each summer so he'll visit four more magical worlds. Not sure what they will be yet as they need to be schools of some sort.

I was thinking about the College of Winterhold in Skyrima for a very cold summer holiday. Plus I could cover the Eye Of Magnus quest. I should have Longbottom come tag along for that one as he's Damien's sidekick.

Maybe I could use the Magic School from Charmed as the spells used in that show could be quite handy for dealing with some of Damien's problems.

My other idea was to have Damien apprentice under another Wizard but I can't decide who that Wizard should be.

I'm sure I'll think of some others once I do my research.

Guest

I'm glad its so well thought of.

douchiesnacks

Then your really about to hate him.

Lord Edric

Good point politicians are evil and worse in Order Of the Phoenix at Harry's trail he acts as Harry's lawyer!

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 17.**

**The Forbidden Forest. Scotland. The Wizarding World. **

I wondered if this was some sort of tradition if so it was a damn foolish one. No student should be sent into the Forbidden Forest for his first detention no matter what he'd done. Granted I was getting off light considering what I'd done but still this was either a damn foolish punishment or a deliberate attempt to get me killed.

Given that it was Dumbledore who had assigned this detention both possibilities could be true and even if this was just a way to scare students in such a way that they thought twice before doing something that would upset the staff again it worried me as it showed just how little the safety of the children attending this school mattered to the Headmaster.

The reason we were here was that my plan to exorcise Binns had succeed. Neville (who had surprisingly neat handwriting when given time to write slowly) had written a very formal looking letter tell Binns that he was being let go because the school governors had decided that History Of Magic would no longer be taught at Hogwarts.

As I'd suspected Binns reason for not moving on was indeed his job so having been fooled into thinking he no longer had a job his spirit had lost its connection to the land of the living and had moved on to the next great adventure.

That part of the plan had worked but I'd not taken into account one very important fact: ghosts can't open envelopes. So Binns had asked a student(which happened to be Granger) to open the letter for him so he could read it which meant Granger had seen the ghost move on and had known why or she had a least known enough for Dumbledore to figure out the rest.

If only Granger hadn't been there when Neville had dropped the letter on Binn's desk. We'd of gotten away with it. But she used empty classrooms to go back in time and had seen Neville leave a letter with Binn's name on it in the classroom.

Later that day the Headmaster had confronted Neville and I, while we were in the Great Hall, and he had demanded to know why we'd decided to get rid of Binns. Ginny and Luna had at once stepped forward to claim that they had helped Neville and I with the idea. That was noble of them but stupid.

Not wanting to get all the Outcasts into trouble I'd done some really quick thinking and told Dumbledore that the whole thing had been a prank in order to get a reaction of Binns who never seemed to responded to anything. I claimed that I had simply thought that we would end up missing a few History Of Magic lessons which I wanted to miss because they were incredibly dull.

Dumbledore might not have believed me but thankfully Flitwick did and he'd declared that what I'd done was just a prank gone wrong. Even the Deputy Headmistress had agreed stating that Fred and Georges Weasly had pranked a lot of people while at the school. The only real difference was that my prank had gone wrong were as there's tended to go right.

It also helped when Slughorn pointed out that no school rules had actually been broken. No signatures had been forged, no one had been hurt, and there was no law against assisting ghosts to try and move on. It was in fact considered a kind thing to do.

So in the end we'd lost quite a few house points and gotten a detention but given how many house points I'd gained so far this year not even my fellow Ravenclaws cared that I'd lost some points as I could starting earn them back pretty easily given how well I tended to do in class.

But despite most of the staff not really blaming us for what had happeend my group had still ended up in this blasted forest and I was worried. So far I'd heard a lot of things that suggested that my friends and I were in great danger. I'd heard howling which suggested that there were wolves in this woods (it wasn't the full moon so they would normal wolves not werewolves) and a strange scuttling noise made by a creature I guessed had more four legs.

I'd forgotten about the spiders.

While the other Outcast members chatted away about the unfairness of this detention (which given that we could have all been expelled wasn't that unfair) I kept a careful eye out for danger. Which was more than could be said for the half-giant gamekeeper Hagrid who was suppose to be supervising this little trip into the forest. The gameskeeper had a crossbow lowed but other than that he seemed unprepared for his trip. But Hagrid was a touch SOB and there wasn't much in the forest that would even think of attacking him. In contrast a bunch of teenagers would look like walking happy meals to some of the magical creatures hidden behind these trees.

"We should do something about Granger" Neville whispered to me as we walked "its her fault were here".

I shook my head and said.

"Bad idea we'd be prime suspects if anything bad happened to her. Let's just get this over with and then lay low for a while. Schools nearly over anyway".

The reason we were was that something had been stealing the school's supply of farm yard animals. We were here to find out what beast was doing that so it could be dealt with. A stupid thing to send children to do but since when did Wizards have any common sense.

As for getting Granger back well we could end up rather busy next year depending next if my plan to deal with Crouch Junior at the World Cup Final didn't go as planned so it wasn't worth wasting our time and energy on petty vengeance.

My mind wandered for a few moments as I wondered if any of the other Death Eaters might try and return their master to power but most of them were locked up. Those that weren't seemed to be benefiting from the status qua around here so I doubted they would try anything like restoring Voldemort to power, not unless they felt threatened.

I might of spent more time thinking on that subject but suddenly I heard a girl scream.

Acting without thought (not something most Ravenclaws would ever admit to doing) I leapt into action. A group of the giant spiders that inhabited this forest, acromantula if memory served, were running right at us. I got the sense that they were hungry.

_Arania Exumai_

My spell sent the led spider flying but the other acromantula didn't even seem to notice. They did notice when I fired off the blue coloured spell a few more times and sent more of the monsters flying away.

The rest of the Outcasts joined in using their own spells and they met with mixed success but thankfully for all of us Hargid's love of what he would call interesting creatures was not greater than his desire to protect us. In an impressive display of physical might the half-giant managed to wrestle two of the spiders at the same time buying us humans precious seconds which we used to run anyway while firing spells.

With no sort of plan or any verbal communication we worked as a team falling back towards the school. It was too dark to see each other unless a spell was being used still we all did our best to cover each other but the spiders kept coming.

During a lull in the fighting while the acromantula regrouped I had a few seconds spare to try and figure out why this was happening.

The school's livestock had been killed and dragged off by the spiders that was obvious now but why was this happening now it hadn't happened before? They might have used up their food supply in the Forbidden Forest by now, decades of population growth could do that, but in the books the acromantula hadn't attacked anything outside of the Forest, as far as I was aware, until the Battle for Hogwarts. So what had changed to make this happen?

I quickly realised that it must be because of the Chamber never having been opened. The spiders feared the Basilisk above all else and had it become active again it would of ensured that the acromantula would of stayed away but in this time line the Chamber remained sealed so there was nothing to keep the spiders away. If the acromantula got hungry enough they'd risk attacking humans and domesticated animals.

"Merlin there's hundreds of them" swore Neville "we need help!"

He was exaggerating there were only a few dozens a most but that was more than enough to finish us and we were all to tired to keep running, worse of all I didn't even think that we'd been running in the right direction

Suddenly I heard music in the form of a song only it was nothing a human mouth could produce it was to wonderful.

It was Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix who flew at the spiders but not before dropping the Sorting Hat on Neville's head who swore again before taking off the hat to find The Sword Of Godric Gryffindor in his lap. Of course! He was a Gryffindor and he'd called for help! Just like Potter would have done down in the Chamber.

My group's avian rescuer was a great distraction and Neville looked ready to fight now that he had a magic sword but I still didn't like our chances. Not that we had much of a choice we could die fighting or just die and if it was time for my life to end I wasn't going down easily.

After making sure Luna and Ginny were behind us Neville and charged forward. But it didn't seem to matter how many of the eight legged freaks I blasted with the _Arania Exumai _spell or how many Neville stabbed and slashed as more kept appearing. My wand work was proving less lethal than I had hoped and Nev was no swordsmen, so death looked certain.

Rather than run the girls joined in not letting us menfolk die to protect them. Between us lit the forest up as spells filled the air and in the confusion of all those sights and sounds I failed to notice that one of the spiders had gotten behind me.

I was about to get bitten but Luna jumped in the way and took the bite for me. She dropped limp onto me which made me fall over as in my exhausted state I had little strength left.

My wand hand was free and I was now filled with rage so I readied myself to use the Dark Arts but before the first curse left my wand something amazing happened. A pure white brilliance which turned night into day and hurt my eyes appeared the white light made the spiders turn and run as fast as they could.

I wondered who it could be that was saving us and as my eyes adjusted to the changing light level it looked like Gandalf the White had come to the rescue only I was wrong. It was in fact Dumbledore.

**The Hospital Wing. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

I must of blacked out because the next thing I knew I was jumping out of a bed, reaching for my wand on the bedside table and looking for something to curse.

"Luna!" I called out.

The Nurse made a shush noise and then waved me over. A curtain was pulled back to show Madam Pomfrey and Professors Dumbledore and Flitwick standing over Luna's sleeping form.

"Miss Lovegood will be fine" assured the school nurse "thanks to the Headmaster's Phoenix".

I must of looked as confused as I felt as Dumbledore explained.

"Phoenix tears can heal even the most horrific of wound and neutralise the most deadly of venoms".

The acromantula must of poisoned Luna that made sense as even regular sized spiders could kill humans with a bite. Granted such spiders weren't normally found in the U.K but there had been nothing normal about those arachnids.

"She was very lucky" said my Head of House to his employer "if your familiar hadn't gone to the forest you would of not have been there in time to save them, Headmaster".

I felt the urge to point out that it was the Headmaster who had sent us into danger in the first place but despite my tiredness and aching body I had enough sense to realise that maybe Dumbledore had sent the Outcasts into danger so that he could 'save us'. If that was so then he must want to earn my gratitude for some reason and it might serve me best to play along with that scheme.

"Thank you Professor" I said loudly enough to be heard but not so loudly that it might wake Luna up.

After I said that I at once started to plan the downfall of Albus Dumbledore.

Even if the old man hadn't purposely arranged tonight's events he'd still failed to do his job (again) which meant that he had to be removed from office and if had indeed put us in danger, and nearly gotten Luna killed, then he was going to die by my hand.

However before I dealt with Dumbledore I was going to deal with those spiders. I had no idea, yet, how I was going to do that but I'd find a way. I'd make them pay even if I had to burn the whole forest down around them.

"It was no trouble Damien" said the Headmaster in a friendly voice "and rest assured that there will no more detentions served in the Forbidden Forest".

I ignored the Headmaster and asked the nurse something.

"Are Neville and Ginny okay?".

Dumbledore answered for her.

"Both Mr. Longbottom and Miss Weasly are fine. In fact they have already been sent back to their dormitories".

Well that was good news. Luna being hurt was bad enough but one of my friends had died I didn't know what I would do. It was taking a lot of effort for me not to attack the Headmaster right in here in the Hospital Wing. If it weren't for Fawkes Dumblore would already be dodging Killing Curses as if she had died than everything good about me would of died with her.

"You however Mr Mason are not well" informed the school nurse "You are suffering from a bad case of magical exhaustion"

I didn't know what that was but I could guess.

"I've worn out my magic?" I asked with concern.

I'd not known that a Wizard could do that.

Pomfrey took me aside to explain.

"No you can still do magic silly boy. Magical exhaustion is caused by doing to much magic. You wore yourself out not your magic".

Well that made sense. Using magic burned calories just like exercising did so what I'd done was the magical equivalent of exercising until I passed out.

"Once you get some bed rest and a good meal inside you, you'll recover".

That was a great relief to hear because for a second or two I'd worried that I might of damaged my ability to do magic. I also realised that I really had no idea if was possible to damage a person's magic.

"Now go back to sleep" the Nurse ordered.

Seeing no reason to disobey I went back to bed and before sleep claimed me again I spent some time planning revenge.

I didn't care what it might cost me later those spiders were going to burn. The gods themselves would not be able to stop me. I was going to kill every last eight legged freak in the forest.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author Notes**

My thanks to RedtheBattler for your tarot card reading idea. Hopefully I made it work. This chapter is dedicated to you

**Reviews **

Selias

No not really that chapter was more about giving Damien a push towards his destiny. And to give Luna some trauma.

RedtheBattler

Interesting idea. Soul Trapping could work but what concerns me is that the point of a Horcrux is to anchor one's self to world of the living so your soul doesn't pass on. The Soul Cairn is a sort of afterlife. So Riddle might end up being set free in the Soul Gem is used.

However Damien could just keep what's left of Riddle Soul in a Black Soul Gem as I think the souls don't go to the Soul Cairn until the Soul Gem is used to enchant something.

In the Skyrim game a Wizard cheats death by sticking his soul in Asura's Star so there is evidence to suggest that just sticking what's left of Riddle's damaged soul into Soul Gem and leaving it there might work.

That might be a way to deal with the bit of soul in Harry as well. There is a Wizard in that quest that pulls the Dragonborn's soul out of his body. If Damien can learn how to do that then he should be able to trap the bit of soul that is Voldemort's inside a Soul Gem as well and then destroy the Soul Gem or leave it somewhere people won't find it.

As for the other parts of Riddle's soul becoming active that's unlikely as the journal required Ginny to pour her heart out in it. The locket gets somewhat active but I already figured out a way to deal with the locket. The cup is locked in a vault so no one is interacting with it so it should be okay to leave it there. As for the Snake a quick blast of fiendfyre will deal with that serpent.

Winter Feline

Yes this version of Dumbledore does need to die. But do remember that the Headmaster is the lesser of the two evils. Voldemort is worse a lot worse in fact, as at least Dumbledore isn't working towards goals that involve the genocide of anyone who isn't an inbred Pureblood with a skull tattoo.

As for Fawkes. Well we don't know how the Phoenix came to be bounded with Dumbledore. I suppose that its possible that Dumbledore was a genuine good guy to start but after years of politics, power and war he's became corrupted.

Fawkes does seem to care for Dumbledore so perhaps the bird is staying with the Headmaster to try and stop him from going to far. Or it could be a bound that can't be broken as you suggest.

Also consider this. Fawkes is a powerful creature that's not remotely human he could have an agenda of his own that we can't see because its not something a human could understand. Fawkes is immortal so he might have a very, very different view of things.

Glad your enjoying it.

Lord Edric

I corrected the six legged freak remark.

I'm not having Damien kill Granger remember he's not the next Voldemort he's more like Grindlewald who locked people up rather than just murder everyone he didn't like. Besides Granger has a role to play in this story.

Worsfold15

Harry brining down Dumbledore would be cool but it might not be possible. However I will give it some thought to see if I can make it work.

nim istar

I haven't written a Star Wars story as of yet. I might do one day as I do have a plot in mind. As for the symbol I just happen to like it that's all.

douchiesnacks

Death to the spiders!

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 18. **

**The Divination Classroom. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding School. **

I just couldn't wait for this school year to be over. The last few weeks had been hell for me. Ever since that detention I'd been without my girlfriend/Seer and things weren't going so well for me.

Until now I'd not I'd not realised how handy Luna was to have around. Never before when sneaking around after hours had I been caught by the school's caretaker nor had I been late for a lesson or made a mistake in potions class.

At least I wasn't getting punished for my misfortunes. The staff just thought I was distracted due my girlfriend being in the Hospital Wing. Which was a good assumption because that was partly the reason I was so distracted.

Luna's life was no longer in danger but she was taking a long time to heal because while Fawkes' tears had healed her and neutralised the venom it didn't help with the psychological problems she was having. The poor girl was drinking up the school's supply of Dreamless Sleep potion but because she'd been trying to stay awake to avoid the nightmares despite having drank she kept having fits when the potion wore off and she got to tired to stay awake.

She was slowly getting better but given that she hadn't been all that stable to start with Luna was a lot more out of it than normal. She hardly seemed there at all when I visited.

When she had in there in mind I'd asked her why she hadn't been able to foresee the spider attack and her answer had worried me.

The Seers of this world were not allowed to know the time of their own death. It was the one thing they never saw and this meant that Luna should of died that night.

Getting that piece of news had spent me right back into the Forbidden Forest. I'd encountered the spiders again only I'd been the one hunting them and I'd had far more success than they had.

I had indeed made the forest burn.

It turned out that the webbing the spider's used was quite flammable so I hadn't needed to use fiendfyre instead blasting curses and other fire based spells had set the forest alight.

Like most creatures the acromantula greatly fear fire so once I had started burning everything in sight the eight legged freaks had begun to panic and that was what allowed to beat them. Had they been able to organise they could of used their superior numbers to easily defeat me. However due to the flames they couldn't and so I had been able to pick them off one by one.

I used the Dark Arts to kill I called upon my knowledge of curses to bring ugly death to the spiders. I even used the Torture Curse a few times which I didn't regret one bit and was only legal to use on human beings anyway.

Attacking the acromantula (perhaps even wiping them out) was an action that was impossible to hide but if anyone had put two and two together and figured that I was behind the pest control then they weren't saying anything

Not even Neville had said anything and he should know given that he'd wanted to help me but I'd foolishly decided to deal with the acromantula myself.

Perhaps that was why he was strangely quite during today's Divination lesson. Maybe he'd wanted to get in on the action as well or perhaps he was angry at me for putting myself in danger. Its hard to tell with teenagers they get emotional over everything and it rarely makes sense

Thankfully he wasn't letting his feelings get in the way of the practical exam we were currently taking which was good as my grade for the year would have been badly effected if he'd decided to kick up a fuss.

Trelawney had supplied Tarot cards to the class and we were using them to give readings to the other students as they asked questions about their love lives, future success and so on.

Rather oddly Trelawney had drawn the Death Card for Harry Potter three times which was odd because there was only suppose to be one of that type of card in the pack.

Had it been any one but Potter I would have worried but the 'Seer' who taught this class was always predicting his death. As for the three death cards well someone must of put to many cards in one pack.

The school bell rang and I smiled. I'd been able to avoid being given a reading and to pass the exam I just needed to show that I could interpret the cards and I'd done that more than once today so I was in the clear.

Or so I thought

I'd made it all the way to the ladder before the teacher called me over.

"Damien you haven't had your reading yet" reminded the Professor

Trelawney had me sit down with her and told me that I was going to get a full reading form her.

In her mind this was some sort of treat but to me it was something to be avoided I was just about to make some excuse when suddenly everything started to get darker and the normally very warm classroom chilled quite a bit.

"Stay sitting. Shuffle the cards and then cut the deck".

Trelawney's voice didn't sound quite right, it was as if someone or something else was speaking through her.

Obeying the voice I very carefully shuffled the deck ensuring that the cards were neatly arranged and then I divided the pile of cards as I was told to. They felt heavy in my hands as if weighed down by some force that I couldn't see.

Once I laid the pack down I found myself frozen the spot. I'd lost the ability to move my body and despite how worrying this was I couldn't even panic. All my attention was on the cards.

The first card drawn was the Fool reversed. I knew that if the card was reversed that its meaning changed.

"The Chosen One has come with great fanfare to save the wretched above all others" said the voice that didn't belong to Trelawney.

Chosen One. Wasn't that Potter's future title? And who were the wretched? The Muggleborns perhaps they would certainly feel wretched if things kept going the way they were now. Or did she (or the thing using her voice box) mean people who are wretched because they were bad people rather people who had wretched lives due to those bad people?

The second card drawn was the Emperor in reverse

"Lead by the Blinding Lord who sits upon a throne of ignorance."

Blinding Lord well that could be Dumbledore or Fudge if the ignorance part mattered most. As for the blinding part well Dumbledore's reputation did blind a lot of people.

The third card drawn was the Devil and it was the right way up.

"Against the Dark Master and his slaves they will clash."

Order of The Phoenix verses Death Eaters and their master was my guess.

The fourth card drawn was the Justice in reverse. Odd that all these reverse cards should be showing up as I had carefully shuffled the deck.

"While the Watchmen look away, the Judges are bought with gold, and the Scribes author deceptions."

That sounded right the Death Eaters controlled most of the money in this world and a lot of them could bribe their way out of trouble. As for the author deceptions well that could be the Daily Prophet. That paper was less truthful with people that I was.

I noticed that The Emperor, The Devil, and The Justice cards had formed a triangle around the upside down Fool. I assumed that this meant that everything revolved around the reverse fool which could be representing Dumbledore. That made sense as he always seemed to be involved with things.

The fifth card drawn was then drawn it was Tower

"Unknown to them a Traveller has come and placed a Mason to demolish the monolith they stand upon."

Wait hold on the Traveller had told me that he wasn't pushing me into any course of action that would result in me becoming a regime changing Dark Lord.

Then again maybe he'd been lying or perhaps whatever force it was speaking through Trelawney now was trying to make me think that. There could be other beings like the Traveller who wished to mess with mortal affairs.

The sixth card was then drawn and it was the Chariot the right way up

"He who has experience beside youth, emotion beside control, domination beside compassion, and power beside mercy. He will charge ahead and the discarded will follow in his wake."

It all made sense to me I had far more experience than someone who looked my age should do and I had far better emotional control than my peers (well nearly always) I wondered how much mercy and compassion I actually had but its often hard to see your own better qualities.

As for the last part well the Outcast group I'd gathered around me were the discarded ones. They were the ones mostly ignored and often forgotten about. Or at least Neville, Ginny and Luna were.

Susan and Hannah were somewhat popular but they more like informants than real members.

The seventh and final card was drawn and it was Judgement

"He will stand before the Fallen Lord, The Dark Master, The Watchmen, The Judges, The Scribes, and all the others that stood by and took no action. He will deliver to them all Judgement."

Then everything spooky stopped and I breathed out heavily. Trelawney seemed to come out of the trance and she took a look at the cards.

"I'm sorry Damien the inner eye can sometimes cause one to miss the present".

Luna was living proof of that but in Trelawney's case it was an excuse to cover up that she was often passing out and therefore missing the present.

"Was your reading successful?" she asked.

I could only nod in reply.

The 'Seer' looked at the odd pattern the cards had made.

"Well I think we can safely say that you have mastered the cards. I've never seen a reading so... artfully arranged".

A bit of an understatement really.

"I foresee that your grade for this year will be a good one" 'predicated' Trelawney.

Given that she was the one who gave us the grades that wasn't much of a predication but still it was nice to know that my grades wouldn't suffer.

Not that my grades were a big concern of mine right now. I was far more worried about the 'exam' I'd just taken rather than what mark I'd get for them.

I took finally look at the way the Tarot cards were positioned in the hopes that I could commit them to memory, or at least recall them clearly enough to viewed in a Pensive, before the teacher started put them away.

After that I started to wander the castle in a bit of daze. I had intended to go to the Hospital Wing in the hopes that Luna could offer me her opinion on the Tarot card reading but my feet had other ideas I ended up in the Astronomy Tower.

Looking out at the landscape I noticed that sun had set and that the moon was up. The reading hadn't taken that long but it looked as if hours had passed. I must have been walking for a while.

I also noticed that the moon was full so when I heard a faint howl I knew that this time it might not be the normal kind of wolf that was making them.

A memory of something said a while ago came to the surface. I remember that Luna had told me that at the end of this year I would have to do something. I was starting to get a good idea about what the thing I do was.

I'd bet my entire fortune (which was a lot of gold) that Potter had somehow ended up outside and that Lupin was out there too. I also bet quite a bit of gold that he hadn't his Wolfbane potion either.

But why was the Boy-Who-Lived out there? Was he alone?

I berated myself. This was not a time for questions, this was a time for action.

Calling upon magic not of this world I teleported myself down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

**The School Grounds. Hogwarts. The Wizarding World.**

Once I arrived I had to avoid a falling tree that my magic had caused to collapse as the form of teleporting I'd used required an exchange of matter equal to my mass to appear at the location.

I imagined that the school caretaker would later be wondering how part of tree had found its way up to Astronomy Tower but that didn't concern me right now as I had other things to deal with.

Following the howls I entered the forest proper and I stumbled across a strange scene. I was nearly spotted but I found a place to hide were I could still see what was going on.

A group of three black robed Wizards (Death Eaters I assumed) had captured the Golden Trio and also dealt with Lupin in his werewolf form. The Defence teacher wasn't moving I worried that he might be dead.

"I'm sure I heard something" said one robed figure with a male voice "sounded like a tree falling over".

"Then go check it out" said another Death Eater "but be careful there's more than werewolves in these woods".

A posher sounding voice then said "and be quick about it, the Master will not thank you for the delay".

There was only one creature that Death Eaters called Master and that was Lord Voldemort.

My insight was confirmed when a forth Death Eater appeared carrying a bundle of cloth like it contained something very valuable.

"We have the boy" said the forth Wizard in a trembling tone of voice "there's no time to check we must start now!".

This was worse than I had thought. This wasn't a case of Harry being in danger due to Lupin not taking his potion. Potter and his friends had been kidnapped by Death Eaters.

I guessed that Lupin must of seen the Death Eaters on the Marauders and gone to rescue Potter but the full moon had come. It also seemed that none of the other staff knew what was going on otherwise these woods would not be suitable for the Death Eaters to use.

Why they hadn't gone to the Graveyard in order to bring back their Dark Lord I didn't know. Perhaps they didn't want to risk moving Potter on the off chance he was able to escape. That made sense to me as bringing Tom Riddle Senior's bones here would be far simpler than moving a prisoner. But since when did any Wizard Dark or otherwise do things the sensible way?

I pushed aside my musings and focused on what was going on right now I had to come up with a plan not try to figure out the motives of insane inbred magical terrorists.

"Bones of the Father you will restore your son" one Death Eater was saying.

Knowing that I had to do something now I leapt into action hoping that surprise would be enough to counter the numbers I had to face.

_Bombarda Maxima!_

Using a spell capable of bringing down walls. I sent Death Eaters flying as I blasted the cauldron that had been set up for the ritual sending bits of metal flying and burning liquid into the air.

Only the Death Eaters had been close to the cauldron so there was no risk to the Golden Trio.

_Avada Kedavra!_

A Killing Curse was sent my way but I was in motion so it missed. I ducked down and saw that only one of Mort Munchers was still standing. He'd been closer to the prisoners so the blast hadn't done him as much harm.

Knowing that I had keep attacking, or I'd be dead before I reached the captives, I used another curse not caring that it was a Dark Arts curse.

_Sectumsempra!_

The Dark Arts spell hit one of the Death Eaters he wasn't fast enough to bring up a shield, perhaps he had been too hurt by the short lived explosion. The Dark Wizard went down screaming, badly hurt but still alive.

For a few seconds I just stood there marvelling at what I had done. I'd just prevented the return of Voldemort and defeated four Death Eaters. By myself and in a matter of seconds.

Granted surprise had been on my side and that cauldron had contained something flammable but still I'd done something very impressive.

As I stood there surrounded by fire and bodies (which was becoming a habit for me since this was the second time in a fortnight I'd spilled blood in this forest) My mind suddenly went back to the Tarot card reading.

It seemed that some tool of fate had decided that I would be the one to destroy this corrupt and evil civilization. That I was to be the one that would led those without power to knew heights the proof of that was all around me.

That was when it hit me. I'd just killed three people, maybe four if the one bleeding on the ground didn't make it, and worse the Golden Trio had seen me do it.

Knowing the Wizarding World as I did this meant I'd either be getting another Order of Merlin First Class or I'd get a special kiss. It really depended on who got here first.

If it was the Ministry then even I might not have enough money to bribe my way to freedom. However if it was Dumbledore then I'd likely end up being rewarded but I'd also become more under his thumb as he could easily get me into trouble for these deaths.

For a few seconds I wondered if I should just cover up the scene as best I could and wipe the memories of Potter but there was no need as the three teens had been knocked out the entire time.

I checked out the rest of the scene and discovered that Lupin was indeed dead.

There was so sign of Voldemort. If his physical body had been destroyed then he would of returned to his spirit form. If so he must of fled very fast while the curses were being thrown about otherwise I would of seen him or he might be inhabiting the body of some animal. Either way there was nothing I could do about Riddle right now (or at least nothing that I could think to do) and I had other concerns.

The still living Death Eater was the only witness to the scene (aside from Riddle) and if I didn't want anyone in the castle or the Ministry to know that it was me who had saved the day then that witness had be dealt with. I walked over to the bleeding Death Eater and aimed my wand but I couldn't make myself kill the man. Killing to stop Voldemort coming back to life was one thing but killing a defenceless person was another.

It was stupid of me not to end this man's life he wasn't likely to survive much longer anyway but I didn't have time to convince myself as I knew that someone must of noticed the fight as it had taken place near the boundary.

I wiped the man's recent memory and then freed the Golden Trio from their bindings. I also used the Death Eater's wand to make the Dark Mark appear as that would ensure that the woods were searched and that the students would be found.

Potter was already waking up and I could hear voices in the distance so I ventured deeper into the forest intending to call on Tizzy so she could give me a lift back to the school once I was out of sight.

I could only hope that I could away from the scene undetected. If all went well no one would ever know that I had even been there perhaps not even Voldemort as it was unlikely that he had been in any state to get a good look at my face while losing his body.

Then I wondered if I had simply delayed the Dark Lord's return.

There were more Death Eaters out there I was sure of that and Riddle only needed one to aid him in returning to physical form. He could have made other plans to return to power.

Realising that I was heading very deep into the forest I called upon Tizzy to take me to one of the empty rooms near Ravenclaw Tower. I needed to get to the Tower quickly as tt was important for me to be seen by my House mates tonight, as that way I'd have an alibi.

With a short, sharp crack my Elf got me out of the woods and back home. Only rather than go to the Tower I headed for the Hospital Wing as it was vitally important that I speak to Luna at once. I needed answers, mostly about that Tarot card reading as my own interpretation could be wrong. I was sure that Luna would know as she could see things far more clearly than I could. And if she couldn't well I still had one more resource to call upon.

I knew that the Traveller couldn't be the power I'd felt during the reading as it just wasn't his style he had no need to be cryptic but hopefully he had some answers.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author Note:**

This is my most popular story yet I have over a hundred reviews now and this isn't even half way through for book one.

**Reviews**

Hypnosis Writer

A Time Lord Gothic would be awesome and I'll consider writing it if you come up with ideas for him. Would he stick to the Doctor Who universe or travel to other science fiction universes for his adventures?

It could work because there are quite a few sci fi settings I didn't bother to use for Emperor Gothic due them involving only Earth. But with my knowledge of science fiction and a Time Lord's genius I could really ruin the lives of alien invaders and such.

I'll also need some ideas for companions the out line of an adventure or two would be good as well. Just give me something to work with and I'll do the rest.

Worsfold15

I did play a few of the Final Fantasy games when I was younger but I don't remember any of them well enough, perhaps because I was stoned while playing them, so I'll have a look in the attic and see if I can dig one them out. Perhaps if I play Dragon Age or one of the FF games (when not stoned) I can jog my memory and add them to this story.

douchiesnacks

She's done with Ron but not with Harry so when she saw Harry leaving the castle to investigate what the Death Eaters were up to she followed Potter and got caught as well.

A W

I never really liked Lupin very much. He was suppose to have been James Potters' friend but doesn't seem care much about Harry. Lupin being a werewolf is a good reason for him not to taken care of Harry as a younger child but that shouldn't of stopped him from visiting Harry at Privet Drive a few times. Sirius Black had a good reason for not visiting and took the first chance he got to go and see Harry but Lupin had no contact with Harry until he took the teaching job. If one of my childhood friend's kids got orphaned I'd of at least checked up on them and made sure they were being mistreated but Lupin never did as far as I can tell he's only dangerous around the full moon so there would be nothing stopping from visiting a couple of times a month.

As for not killing that wounded Death Eater well few people can simply murderer another human being. Its one thing to kill a group of terrorists trying to bring their boss back to life its quite another thing to kill a helpless person who is already wounded.

So yeah maybe Damien needs to harden up a bit but he's not insane or evil he will always show mercy its just that now he's also willing to do what needs to be done.

Plus in that world murdering (I don't think killing people in self defence or to protect others would hurt you to much in a spiritual sense) people damages your soul so that wounded Death Eater wasn't worth Damien damaging his soul further as he knows its a bit messed up already.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 19. **

**The Hall Of The Elements. The College Of Winterhold. Skyrim. **

As all four of the Outcasts stood in The Hall Of The Elements wearing our college given robes my group and I discussed what was going on.

"I still don't understand what's going on here. What is this place? Why are we here?"

Neville was right to ask these questions and I could tell by the expression on Ginny's face that she wanted to ask some questions of her own. So I moved the small group away from the other students and cast my favourite privacy ward before answering Nev's questions.

"This is a school of magic like Hogwarts only it doesn't have classes or time tables like your use to. Its more like a college or a university" I explained.

The Wizarding World had no universities and while some professions, such as being an Auror, required additional education and training that was about it for higher education so it was hard for me to explain what this place was for when the only higher education they knew about were apprenticeships and on the job training.

"Then where are all the people our age?" asked Ginny.

I resisted the urge to sigh and tried to decided how to best phrase my answer.

"The people here have already completed that level of eduction" I told Ginny. It was sort of true as the students did seem to have had some magical tutoring already "they come here to learn more advanced stuff and to work on their own ideas".

"My Mum was a spell creator this place is like a school for them but its also a place were they can work alone or together to create new spells" said Luna trying to help me make things clear.

It would have been so much easier if it was just Luna and I here but the Traveller had decided that all my friends should come with me on this trip. I should really be grateful that he made this possible ,as I knew that the Outcasts might need the kind of magic they could learn here in the years to come, but I got the feeling that I was going to be spending a lot of time answering other people's questions rather than learning anything myself.

"Okay I'll explain everything again" I told the Outcasts "just listen and I'll answer any questions you have afterwards".

Even Luna didn't know everything that I did so like Neville and Ginny she stood up straight and listened with rapt attention as told them part of the truth.

"A being called the Traveller, he's a kind of god, was trapped in a magic box. I freed him by mistake and he decided to reward me for setting him free. He offered me the chance to start a new and more important life on another world.".

Ginny was about to ask something but I stopped her.

"Let me finish explaining everything first".

I took a deep breathe and carried on.

"I didn't have any close friends in my old life and my family didn't need me around so there was no reason for me not to go. I took the offer and came to your world to learn your kind of magic".

It had always struck me as odd that in all the stories I've read about people being taken out of their dull sometimes even meaningless lives to somewhere wonderful always end up focusing on going home. Which is somewhat understandable if that person had responsibilities back home, people who depend upon them but most of the time the person on the adventure of a life time just ends up thinking that their lives back home are suddenly very important and that those lives need to be returned to as quickly as possible regardless of the consequences.

I couldn't imagine why someone would want to go back to the world were your just one of millions of people who spend their lives doing boring nine to five jobs when you could be doing something meaningful like I was now.

Perhaps it has something to do with the homing instinct that all living creatures share but in my mind this overwhelming desire for people to return to their sometimes pointless existences back home seemed very strange. I'd much rather have the adventure.

"What was your reward?" asked Nev.

Despite this being yet another interruption I answered the question anyway as it did help me get back on track after letting my mind wander as it sometimes did.

"The Traveller isn't evil, at least I don't think he is, but he is a bit of mischief maker".

Well I'd of called him a jerk but he might be listening.

"But rather than just let me pick a reward he came with lots of ideas for a reward and then let me pick one at random. The reward I picked was the chance to become a great and powerful Wizard. So the Traveller sent me to Hogwarts to get my magical education and during the summer he sends me off to other magic schools to learn about their magic so I can become the very powerful Wizard the reward promised".

Sometimes having Pureblood friends is a good thing. If Luna, Neville or Ginny had been Muggleborns they might of realised that what I'd told them meant that I hadn't always been a Wizard. Someone like Granger might of even wondered about who I was before I became a Wizard and she would have no doubt asked me about it but Purebloods, even rather bright ones like Luna, just tend to accept things. Which for now was something that worked to my advantage and I was glad of this because I really didn't want to have to explain about the fact that I use be a twenty something Muggle living in a world were all their lives were mere fiction.

"But why were we brought along?" asked Neville.

For a moment I considered lying and saying something to the effect that I had asked the Traveller to let me bring them along but I felt that the truth would serve me better here.

"You guys know about prophecies".

It wasn't a question but they all nodded anyway.

"Recently I was told a prophecy which leads me to believe that I have to do something important, something that will change the world" I told the Outcasts "I might even have to go as far as to take down the Ministry or at least I might need to bring about some changes major within it".

Given that Ginny and Neville didn't react badly to me saying that I might have to overthrow the government I felt it was safe to carry on talking.

"We've all seen how corrupt the government can be. The Minister used to be a advised by a known Death Eater for pity's sake. And its not just the Minister either Dumbledore needs to be removed from power as well. He nearly got us all killed by sending us into that forest and lets forget that whole incident with the stone Dumbledore might as well of invited Voldemort right into the school and laid down a welcoming mat".

None of the Outcasts much liked Dumbledore these days so they didn't need much convincing there.

"But in order to bring about these changes I'm going to need to break the law and do bad things to bad people, one day I'll be labelled as the Dark Lord and those that help me will be thought of my Death Eaters".

There I'd come out and said it I was going to be the next Dark Lord and I would bring the Ministry down if I had to.

"But the prophecy also said that I will have help".

Well it had words to those effects in any case it was more about gathering those forgotten and misunderstood to my side but I chose to see that as working with my friends.

"Your here now so you can learn magic the rest of the Wizarding World doesn't know about. If you want you can use this magic to help me when I start fulfilling the prophecy. I really could do with your help".

Given that I had just asked them to help me overthrow the government it was understandable that I waited their reply with bated breathe.

"I'll be there for you mate" replied Neville "like you've been for me".

"If its that important I'll help" said Ginny with a smile "As long as you don't get my Dad sacked".

Luna's trust me in me I could understand but I never could figure out why Ginny and Neville followed my lead so easily. I wasn't that convincing of a speaker and I didn't think having enhanced charisma would make someone so trusting. Friendship can only get you so far and I had just mentioned that I might have to overthrow the government which was treason. So either they must really trust me, which I doubted, or I had some strange power over people that I simply couldn't understand.

Then again perhaps my doubts about myself were more about me than them. I just wasn't used to people believing in me and I didn't see myself as a leader even though I was. If I was to survive I had to stop thinking that way and I had to embrace my fate.

I knew that this wasn't something I could escape as when people do try to run from their destiny it rarely ends well and often attempts to avoid one's fate is exactly what brings it about.

During our last meeting the Traveller had told me that this was so. He'd made me understand that there other forces were at work out there. Forces that were outside of his control. My benefactor had no intention of getting to involved with destiny outside of the commitment he had made. There were things he simply wouldn't help me with which I realised meant that once I had completed my education and was considered to be a full Wizard that he would no longer aid me in anyway as that was the end of his commitment.

I wasn't angry about this as the reward he'd given me was a great one and I had known, deep down, that I'd never would of been happy to simply be another citizen of the Wizarding World.

Even without some agency of fate getting involved I might of still become a revolutionist if I was given a good enough reason. The only thing that had been holding me back from that course ,was until now, the fact that my own insecurities were greater than my ego's ability to give me the confidence needed to become the next Dark Lord.

That had begun to change since Luna had been so badly hurt both mentally and physically due to Dumbledore's actions. I now had all the motivation I needed to do what needed to be done.

And as for that event well it would have been easy to blame Granger for 'grassing' on us when she saw who left the letter on Binn's desk. I could of easily gotten some form of payback but really the blame was between myself and Dumbledore.

I was partly to blame for coming up with the plan in the first place and Dumbledore was the one who had sent us into the Forest. It was the Headmaster who put all of my friends in danger and one day he was going to pay for that.

"So what are we going to do while we're here?" asked Nev, snapping me out of my thoughts wandering trail of thought.

"Oh I don't know really" I answered before thinking about it "I guess we could check out that Saarthal place".

I paused as my memories of playing Skyrim ran through my head. Saarthal that was where the Eye Of Magnus would be discovered. The Eye was a magical object of great power (although what that power was I didn't have a clue) but it could bring about an equally great disaster.

If I remembered right that disaster could be avoided by using the Staff Of Magnus but it would be a lot simpler if I just made sure that no one found the Eye in the first place that way this world could avoid a lot of danger and the Outcasts and I could get on with learning some magic. Which was after all the reason for our presence here.

Doing all the quests needed to deal with the Eye if the Mages here started messing around with it could be fun but they could also be very dangerous. I might get myself, or worse the Outcasts, hurt which would be wrong of me as they were sort of in my care as I was the adult of the group in terms of mind's age at least.

On the other hand I could see the value in obtaining such artefacts for myself. The Eye was too dangerous and far to big to take home with me but the Staff Of Magnus could be handy as it had the power to drain magic from both people and objects.

For a few moments I had an amusing scene running through my head. I imagined me with the Staff Of Magnus draining the magic out of some useless wastes of space like Ginny's brother Ron turning him into a squib.

I didn't think it would actually work that way but it would be nice if it did as turning Death Eaters into squibs would be a far more fitting punishment for them than merely killing them.

And even if I couldn't remove a person's ability to use magic it could at least be used to disable wards or even to remove enchantments. That would make dealing with the remaining Horcruxs simple enough as I could break into Gringotts quite easily with such a staff.

Perhaps the Staff could even destroy creatures of magic like Dementors by taking away their evil powers. That would be better than using the weapon the Traveller had provided as I wouldn't have too close to the creatures.

"The Staff will work Damien" said Luna who as ever seemed to know what I was planning, sometimes even before I did "but getting the Staff could be dangerous and it won't be the Traveller that you meet".

I took that to mean that all my ideas about the Staff Of Magnus were correct and as for the last part of what she'd said while it was rather cryptic but I was sure that it would make sense latter.

Also I'd have to deal with the Dragon Priest Morokei but I felt quite safe in going on this quest Luna wouldn't let me go if she foresaw my demise so I felt sure that whatever it was I could handle it.

Addressing all the Outcasts I said.

"Okay guy and gals here's the plan. Neville, Ginny I want you to go with Luna to Saarthal. Follow her lead and trust me when I tell you that doing what she says is very important".

They both knew by now that Luna had a special way of looking at things and after her near death experience she seemed more focused then ever. Which was understandable as its hard to ignore reality when it tries to kill you.

"Bring me back something nice" I whispered to Luna who would no doubt take the chance to recover some of the magical objects from Saarthal before she buried the place in order to ensure that no one would find the Eye".

"What about you Damien?" asked Ginny "what will you being doing?".

I smiled at the red head and said.

"Me, I'm just going out to get myself a new staff"

With the we went our separate ways and once out of sight I spilled down into the Midden and used my Discworld magic to leave the College without anyone noticing.

**Labyrinthian Tribune. The Labyrinthian, Skyrim.**

My plan was a good one. Instead of fighting my way past lots of different kinds of undead and risk my neck by accidentally setting off some ancient booby-trap instead I'd simply intended appear right next to the Dragon Priest. Then I would have freed the creature before dealing with it using a few well chosen spells.

Only it didn't quite work out that way.

Rather than find the enthralled Mages keeping Morokei in place I found the Dragon Priest already free and in battle.

A large force of Draugr ranging from Draugr Scourge, to Draugr Wights were charging at the Dragon Priest who was using lightening attacks to destroy many of its foes but more of the undead kept coming.

They all ignored me and focused on Morokei who was quickly reduced to ash as the Draugr used their Nord made weapons to hack the dragon worshipper apart.

Then that I saw the Necromancer who led this undead army. He was a tall figure dressed in fine black robes. He carried a large staff adorned with a human skull on the top in one hand while his other hand stayed close to a ornate looking sword which hung on his belt.

When I saw his face I thought for a second or two that it was the Traveller as the Necromancer looked like an adult version of myself but then I remembered what Luna had said not that long ago and it all started to make sense as her cryptic remarks often did when the time was right.

The Traveller's reward card had said that I could be any sort of Wizard I wished to be aside from a Necromancer. I also knew that the Traveller had decided to gift other versions of myself with the rewards I hadn't picked. Putting those two facts together it was clear that this was...

"Necromancer Gothic" said the other version of myself "That's the name I chose for myself in case you were wondering".

"Huh?" I said as by way of reply.

The Necromancer version of me smiled in what should have been a friendly smile but there was something cold about it in the blue eyes that we shared.

"Your not the first alternate version of myself I've encountered" explained the black robed wizard "there's a Daedric Prince version of us doing Divine's know what in the Realms Of Oblivion".

While I digested this piece of information a group of half naked women entered the room. They too seemed to be Necromancers or at least Dark Witches of some sort judging by the way they were (partly) dressed, their rather pale skin and their slightly glowing eyes. It was hard to judge their looks due to the skull masks they worse but I saw enough to tell that they were attractive in body.

"My harem" said Necromancer Gothic while gesturing to the women "you should get yourself one. Having a few dozen willing young ladies around who are eager to please you is always fun".

If this version of myself had the same perverted sexual fantasies I sometimes had then I could indeed see the value of having a harem of dark magic using witches around, they didn't look very inhibited to me either which was always a plus when you had exotic tastes for bedroom activities.

"The Daedric Prince version of us that I met told me that there are many others like me out there" informed the Necromancer "so what version are you?".

I didn't really wanted to answer that question. In fact what I really wanted to do was to get the hell out of the Labyrinthian and perhaps even Skyrim if I could arrange it but I'd settle for being able to get away from this guy. The only reason I hadn't already left was that I wanted the Staff of Magnus more than I wanted to run away.

With this in mind I quickly considered my options. I could run and therefore fail my self appointed mission or I could fight and likely die a gruesome death before being turned into a zombie or I could try grabbing the staff and then I could run away.

Slowly I moved towards the ashen remains of the Dragon Priest making sure that my wand was ready but not pointed at anyone in a threatening.

"I'm just a Wizard" I told the Necromancer.

The darker version of myself eyed my wand but rather than looked worried he simply smiled showing a set of very clean teeth.

"Hogwarts student then" he figured out "that explains the wand and why your so young I've visited that world myself using the portal spell".

I was still slowly moving but none of the living or dead people seemed to care. The dead things didn't even move and the living minions of Necromancer Gothic seemed to be to busy gathering up the loot to care much about what I was up to.

"Portal Spell?" I inquired.

Rather than answer my Necromancer counterpart instead gave me the spell. I didn't know how this was done but I'd experienced it before so I was prepared for the odd sensation that came with someone putting a spell into another person's mind.

"Its a handy spell" said the Necromancer "but it only lets you go to worlds were magic is used. Were as worlds ruled by science seemed to have stronger dimensional barriers preventing the use of such portals"

This act calmed me a little as I reasoned that if the Necromancer wished to harm me then he wouldn't of given me a spell that would help me to escape. I still felt the urge to attack my counterpart but it was a lessening urge.

It then hit me that he hadn't asked me how I'd gotten here. Judging by the fact that he had given the portal spell he must of figured out that I lacked the means to travel to other worlds under my own power.

Not that I was going to question his generosity as having the portal spell was very handy. I might have an escape route in the Department of Mysteries but that device wasn't controllable so having this portal spell was much better.

"Now I'm guessing that your here for something in particular" reasoned Necromancer Gothic as he examined the loot his harem had sorted out "what is it?"

I hadn't noticed that the Staff was piled with the gathered loot so all my subtle movements had been wasted.

"I came for the Staff of Magnus" I answered.

The Necromancer nodded and said.

"That makes sense your wearing the College's uniform and if I know me as well as I know me your getting the Staff long before you need it".

I only nodded in reply as I was still finding it a little odd to converse with myself.

"Well given that I live here I don't want the Eye exploding or anything like that so take the Staff".

The Staff was passed to me by one of the female Mages and I took a few steps back span on the spot and got the hell out of there but not before promising myself that I was going to stay safely inside the College for as long as I was visiting Skyrim.


	20. Chapter 20

**The Reviews **

RedtheBattler

The Dragons won't attack the College as the Dragonborn has already dealt with the more aggressive ones and killed the as well World-Eater.

I don't recall any Vampires attacking people is that in the expansion packs?

None of the Outcasts drink so that wouldn't work and besides as you will read at the end of this chapter the Princes have stuff of their own to deal with plans in motion and all that. Still maybe Uncle Sanguine could drop a little present for Luna and give her some encouragement about romance with Damien.

But the wedding idea won't work Damien and Luna don't want to get married yet as there not even kissing at this point.

Would be a fun wedding me thinks. Maybe I'll put it in Book Two.

Way ahead of you on the idea of using restoration magic to fix Neville's parents.

Lootryx

I'm still not much of an anime fan so its unlikely.

Selias

Damien will met other versions of himself although I don't why they would be unfriendly towards him unless they were forced into a fight. Of course given the way the Many World Theory works its not impossible that there is a version of Gothic out there who would attack Damien on sight simply because there's bound to be a version of me out there with god like power who is also totally nuts. But that would make for a very short chapter.

A W

The Necromancer version of Gothic did just want the mask and he figured that Damien was going to stop the Eye Of Magnus from going boom or whatever so it was a good idea to let him take the Staff since Necromancer Gothic does live in Skyrim he doesn't want it to be destroyed.

Also I don't think the Mask would do Damien much good if you recall the fight with the Spiders a few chapters back Damien has more magic than his body can safely handle he passed due to fatigue not loss of magic so the Mask would do nothing for him.

As for the Staff well Necromancer Gothic is mostly fighting Nords and they like to hit people with axes so a magic draining staff wouldn't be so useful.

And there is also the fact that Necromancer Gothic remembers what a Wizard with a wand can do to the undead. Dumbledore destroyed loads of zombies in the Half Blood Prince book while still recovering from a very nasty potion so the Necromancer would be wandering if Damien could do that to and just reduce all his zombies to ash in a matter of moments.

Lord Edric

In the next chapter we head back to the Wizarding World.

douchiesnacks

I already explained the reasoning for that to A W.

Chinran

I might write Necromancer Gothic if there's enough demand but I have a lot of story ideas so it would take more people requesting to read Necromancer Gothic to make it worth my time.

War sage

I just said I have a lot of stories so unless there is a lot of demand it might be a while before I write Time Lord Gothic.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 20.**

**The Midden. The College Of Winterhold. Skyrim. **

I actually felt sorry for the Frostbite Spider that my group encountered in The Midden. Upon seeing the overgrown arachnid the Outcasts had obliterated it using a mixture of Skyrim and Wizarding World magic, what was left of the giant spider would have be scrapped off the walls.

Granted my friends and I had very good reasons for not liking spiders but still living things don't deserve to be reduced to paste just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But I'd quickly put the gruesome death out of my mind once we had started to explore The Midden.

I'd soon discovered that the College was a lot bigger in real life that it was in the game. The Midden was also much larger than the game suggested which meant that there were also a lot more creatures running around down here.

Thankfully the few skeletons and zombies (leftovers from someone's Necromancy experiments no doubt) were easily dealt with and I blasted the sole Ice Wraith before it could ruin anyone's day.

"There's some really weird stuff down here" commented Neville as he and Ginny started to examine what I knew to be Daedric Relic.

"Just grab what you can" I told the Longbottom heir "I want to take as much as we can back with us".

It was possible for me to return to Skyrim when ever I wished thanks to the Portal Spell but I had no intention of coming back here unless I really had to as that Necromancer version of myself had really freaked me out.

"Is your trunk going to be big enough?" asked Ginny.

"Sure I upgraded before we left" I told the red head "I got the chest with seven compartments and all the optional extras".

It was a very cool trunk you could easily live out of it, in fact if you had a sleeping bag and didn't mind enclosed spaces you could even live in it. Although why anyone would want to was beyond me.

I'd gone as far as to buy all the extras you could get with that kind of trunk so I had space not only to store all of my personal possessions (which once you took away the school stuff was depressingly little really) I could also store everything that we were planning to take home with us and still have room to spare.

"Nev make sure you grab all the alchemy stuff you can" I reminded my friend "there's some cool ingredients down here".

Ginny and Neville left me with the Daedric Relic to go and gather the plants which were well worth gathering due to their magical properties. They were of great interest to Neville due to his love of exotic green things and he'd picked up quite a lot of seeds and cuttings so that he could grow some of these plants back home. He had a few spare greenhouses so it wasn't as if his efforts would go to waste and the rare magical properties the of the plants native to this would allow me to create potions no one else had access to back in the Wizarding World.

Unknown to Nev I intended to slip his parents a few of the potions I had already made in the hopes that my potions would restore their minds. I didn't know if a restore intelligence potion would do anything but it was worth trying as given the state Mr and Mrs Longbottom were in even killing them would be a improvement.

As a back up plan I'd bartered quite a bit of Gringotts gold to buy scrolls of restoration magic. I didn't have the skill needed to cast the spells myself but a scroll didn't require the user to be that skilled as it was the scroll that contained the magic.

I'd even considered the idea of kidnapping the two Longbottoms and bringing them to one of the shrines of the Nine Divines as those shrines had the power to lift Dark Curses and the Longbottoms were suffering because of Dark Curses so if all else failed I'd have to but my faith in some gods.

Which wasn't something I wanted to do as I didn't want to be in debt to some gods nor did I wish to return to Skyrim but it was worth it for Neville.

It was tempting to point out to Nev that the magic here might help his parents but it would be cruel to give him hope only to have it snatched away again if my plans failed. No it was better to let him know what I'd done only if it worked so if my plans failed he'd never know.

I hadn't even mention any of this to Luna as I was a little worried that she might try and fix her own mind using the magic here. It was selfish of me but I liked the Luna I knew and if she changed I might lose her.

Then again she must know that she wasn't altogether in the head. The restore intelligence potion wouldn't help but her Seer powers (which were what made her insane by most people's standards) were a curse (or a gift in my view as it aided me) so if she fixed herself that curse would be gone. If it was just me who would lose out I'd cure her myself but a lot of lives were depending on what I did in the next few years.

"Its okay I don't want to be fixed".

I'd been so involved in my own thoughts that I hadn't even noticed that Luna was standing right behind me.

"Would it work?" I asked her.

My girlfriend nodded and said.

"Its a curse so it can be lifted, any of the temples here could do it but I don't want to lose what makes me special and you need my help".

That was Luna for you, always she thought of others before herself.

"Your plan to heal Neville's parents will work as well but no one must know it was you".

"I don't want to lie to Neville" I told the blond girl.

Well it wouldn't actually be lying but withholding the truth was just as bad sometimes. That was the sort of thing the likes of Dumbledore did and it one of the many reasons why I hated the old man.

Luna's hand gripped mine in order to comfort me.

"He'll figure it out" she assured me "but you don't need to win his loyalty he trusts you to do what's right".

I should know that, but I still had those nagging doubts about myself and what I had to do.

"And he has the sword to prove it".

My confused look asked the question for me.

"Neville's still got the sword. I think it likes him".

Godric's blade was suppose to go those of his house that needed it but Luna made it sound like the weapon had chosen Neville to wield it. I remembered reading that some magical swords could do that and they would still stay loyal to the wielder as long as they used the sword for its intended purpose.

What that purpose was I didn't know but that sword wasn't meant for the likes of me it was meant for Wizards like Neville so perhaps I wasn't meant to know. Plus I could conjure up my own sword now thanks to the Bound Sword Spell so it wasn't as if I had a great need for such a weapon.

"I'll get the sword imbued with venom when we get back" I said to Luna.

The Traveller had given me some Basilisk venom as a gift sometime ago and it was best to imbue the sword with the venom just in case Neville needed to kill Riddle's snake like he would have done in the original time line.

Not the Horcruxs worried me any more as if the Staff Of Magnus worked as I hoped it did I could strip Riddle of his powers anyway. I wasn't sure that would happen if I took away his magic but I doubted his spirit would be a danger to anyone with any magical powers.

The Staff might not kill the current Dark Lord, given that he was immortal, but if he become a powerless disembodied creature who could only haunt the world till the end of time, well that would suit me fine.

And even it didn't I learned how to remove souls from people and objects while recovering Azura's Star. I'd turned it into a reusable Black Soul Gem which could store human souls something which could benefit me later.

Forcing human souls out of the body they belonged in was rather tricky to do without killing the person but Riddle's soul was more damaged than mine was and he currently lacked a body in any case. So if I ever faced Riddle I'd cast the Soul Trap Spell and capture the part of his soul that was the main piece then I'd open a portal to some empty world devoid of people and then leave the Black Star there.

Since the Star was now cut off from its creator it wouldn't fade back into Oblivion and the Star itself was difficult to damage so Riddle might spend forever trapped in the Soul Gem on a world completely devoid of human life. Another fitting for the so called Dark Lord.

It would be tempting to enchant him out of the Star and then let him spend eternity in the Soul Carin but he might escape and Nirn (the world Elder Scrolls is set in) didn't deserve to have the likes of Voldemort inflicted upon it.

But either way Flight From Death would have the immortal existence he so desired just not in the way he desired. The idea made me very, very happy.

"Could I borrow your god gem?" Luna asked out of the blue

She meant the Star I assumed. It was the only thing I had from a god that was a gem of sorts.

"Sure" I replied "its in my trunk".

Luna was learning the art of enchanting so a reusable Soul Gem would be very handy for her. She wasn't lacking for souls either as objects turned into animals could be soul trapped (something that confused the hell out of me) so Luna would be spending some time putting weak enchantments on all my clothes if my guess was right. I wouldn't complain as it was a good way to practice that skill and all the Outcasts would benefit greatly once Luna could enchant all our clothes and jewellery.

"You should spend some time with Ginny" advised Luna rather out of the blue as she moved in to get a hug from me.

"What, why?" I asked.

"Your not going to be able to take over the world without her help" informed Luna.

"The world is not enough" I muttered mostly to myself.

"Well you know how to get to other worlds now" reminded Luna with a silly grin on her face"anyway Ginny is the key to getting the Chosen One on our side".

I quickly went over what I knew and I imagined that if Potter entered the Tri-Wizard tournament he might turn to someone like Ginny for help as she was a Weasly after all. I'd suspected that he end up getting closer to Neville but it seemed as if Luna had seen otherwise.

"Ginny doesn't think that you need her as much as Neville and me" Luna told me "if you take her on a mission she'll feel more needed".

I was almost corrected her by pointing out that it was 'Neville and I' not 'Neville and me' but doing that sort of thing just tended to annoy people.

"She's your friend" I replied "so I'll trust your judgement. I'm sure there's something she and I can do together. There's bound to be somewhere we can go to get more magical supplies".

**The Marketplace. Solitude. Skyrim. **

When had Luna suggested that Ginny and I do something together she mentioned going on a mission but I decided against that due to the fact that I didn't know how well Ginny would deal with killing living people nor did I know how well she could fight with the rest of the Outcasts being with us.

So I had offered Ginny the chance to explore somewhere a bit safer somehow that had turned into a shopping trip which given that we were trying to find magical items to take back home with us wasn't such a bad idea but still that hadn't been the kind of adventure I'd had in mind.

Damien Mason And The Trip To Buy Souvenirs.

It just didn't sound right. Potter really does have all the fun.

"Come on" urged the red headed girl "I need to buy something for my Mum and Dad".

The Traveller had some way of making everyone think that the Outcasts had won a trip to visit the magical community in another part of the world we'd left. I had no idea how he was able to do that because our cover story wouldn't hold up to any sort of investigation but everyone seemed to accept the story regardless of how little sense it made.

Still it was best to play along with the story and that meant that we had return home with arms full of the usual rubbish tourists got suckered into buying when visiting parts of the world they didn't know well enough to avoid being ripped off. Well at least that was Ginny's plan it may be just an excuse to go shopping.

So it seemed that I was just along for the ride. Well that I was funding this fun afternoon out. Not that I minded of course as I had more money than a person could spend in one lifetime (even a Wizard's lifetime) so as long as she didn't buy a house here I would be no worse off financially.

Coming from a not so wealthy family Ginny didn't like it when I spent money on her but I'd managed to convince her that the money didn't matter between friends as when it came to gifts you weren't meant to keep track of who spent how much on who.

Judging by the fact that she'd stopped mentioning money she must of swallowed her pride and realised that I was going to spend money on her anyway so she might as well stop worrying about it.

As for what we were spending the money on well the shops were actually rather reasonable priced which was odd even that the storekeepers should be trying to fleece of us of all our gold. Either enhanced charisma equalled a high speechcraft skill here or my gold was worth a lot more than it seemed. That or I was getting really good at haggling business.

"Oh please somebody help me".

I turned my head to see who was asking for help and a smile lit up my face. If I remembered right the person asking for help was the servant of the Mad God (although he didn't look it) if I answered his request for aid then I could get my hands of the Wabberjack. I could have lots of fun with that staff.

"I'll help" I told the crazy wandering man while signalling Ginny over "What do you need my friend?"

**The Recreation Of Pelagius' Mind**

With a swirl of blue light a man wearing oddly out of style black clothing appeared walked over to where The Daedric Prince Of Madness, aka Sheogorath, was sitting sat down and he put his steel toe capped boots on the table. Which was rather rude but Sheogorath didn't mind.

"Did everything go according to plan?" asked the man wearing 21st century clothing.

"Oh aye those two Mages played the game well" replied the Mad God "but I don't understand why you wanted me to put them through the ringer. I could of just given them the Wabberjack. It wasn't easy to set this all up I can tell ya".

The man took out a cigarette and lit it by clicking his fingers.

"Give me some credit Sheegy the other me wouldn't take your artefact back to the Wizarding World if he suspected a set up and we do need our artefacts spread about if we want to expand our influences".

The Mad God huffed.

"If ya did something about that Necromancer version of yourself running around causing all sorts of trouble then we wouldn't have to worry about bringing down the barriers".

The Daedric Prince version of Gothic simply smiled at his peer.

"You know that's not how this all works. The Traveller likes his amusements and the Nine Divines have struck a deal. The death loving version of myself will be driven off this world if it looks like he's getting too powerful, but for now we'll let him do his thing. Besides we can always make him the Daedric Prince of Death if he decides to try and obtain godhood".

"No offence meant my dear boy" said the Mad God "but I think having one of you running a realm of Oblivion is bad enough. If there were two of ya I'd never get any peace and quiet".

The Daedric Prince of Darkness. Poured himself a cup of tea as his insane partner in crime mentioned something about the other version of Gothic he'd just met.

"You know lad that this Mage you person type thing asked me the very same questions that you did when we first met".

"I'm not surprised" replied Prince Gothic "we are pretty much the same person after all. Did you tell him the truth?"

The Mad God laughed.

"I gave him the same answers I gave you!"

The Daedric Prince Of Darkness shook his head is dismay.

"That doesn't answer my question".

Rather than answer the unanswered questioned Sheogorath switched subjects and asked a question of his own.

"So do think that I will be able to start influencing the mortals on the world were my staff is going".

"I think so" replied the Prince of Darkness "but please do stick with the non-magic users. You shan't run short of playthings they have entire buildings full of insane people on that world whose souls you can claim. The other Princes are more interested in shall we say less developed worlds so you have what's called the Muggle World to yourself. But we will leave the Wizarding World to my younger self as if he is truly as like me as I think he is then he will already have plans to rule the magical world".

"Explain to me why you aren't the Prince Of Ambition" requested the Prince Of Madness with a chuckle.

"That's Vile area of expertise" answered the tea drinking god "beside I have enough to do with the spheres of Necromancy, Forbidden Practices and the Dark Arts as well as a bunch other spheres of influence that all add to me playing patron to every Mage who messes with things he or she shouldn't. The sheer amount of tentacle monsters I've dealt across the universes would boggle even your mind".

"At least you've got your harem to help you relax" reminded Sheggy "all I've got is Haskill and being nagged in a very soft tone of voice is still nagging".

"I think all the versions of me get into the habit of collecting girls from fiction. I haven't the desire to collect so many of something since those blasted Pokemon cards first came out. Thank Talos I stopped before they jacked up the price too much. If they ever combine Pokemon and attractive girls I'll be bankrupt before the end of the month".

In another impressive display of magic the Daedric Prince Sanguine, Lord of Revelry appeared and took a seat across from Gothic.

"You'll be happy to know that your old Uncle Sanguine played his part very well".

The demonic looking Prince took a seat and explained further.

"I had a little chat with your Wizard counterparts pet Seer I kept her nice and distracted for you".

"You didn't get her drunk did you?" asked the Prince Of Darkness with concern.

"Oh even I'm not going to try and get a child drunk, Deus. Give me some credit" replied the Prince Of Partying "No we just had a chat about her love life and we had some cake".

"The cake is a lie!" shouted Sheegy

"I never should of gotten him that TV" Deus muttered before addressing Sanguine "were these... baked goods the special brownies I taught you how to make?".

"Perhaps" answered Uncle Sanguine "but don't judge it takes a lot to block a Seer's vision and while the disbeliever in cake here".

"The cake is a lie!" interrupted the Mad God.

"could stop her from foreseeing that her boyfriend got the Wabberjack he couldn't stop her from seeing him taking the Wabberjack back home with him. By the time she recovers they will be back on their world and it will be to late to do anything about it. Besides I slipped my Staff into her trunk just like you asked me to. She'll know what is does and the temptation to use to save her boyfriend will ensure that the barriers between Oblivion and the rest of all existence are further weakened".

The Prince Of Darkness smiled a very evil smile but somehow resisted the urge to break out into typical evil villain laughter.

"Good then you too will be able to start gathering a few followers on that world. Just remember to stay away from the magic using humans of that world. This other version of myself will get involved if we start messing with the Wizards and given what he knows he might actually be able do something that could harm us".

"But he's just a mortal" argued Uncle Sanguine "what could he possible do to us?"

"Don't underestimate mortals" reminded Deus "Asura did and now she's lost her Star".

Rather suddenly the Mad God got up and declared that he was leaving muttering something about the cheeses conspiring against him.

Since it was the ruler of the Shivering Isle who had created this place it wouldn't last long once he was gone so that meant it was time for everyone to leave.

The Daedric Prince of Darkness clicked his fingers and vanished he a lot of had work to do only it didn't involve cheese, well not unless he wanted a snack.


	21. Chapter 21

**Reviews**

Tylermech66

I've done a draft for a chapter of the Necromancer story and jotted down some ideas. I was thinking of starting that story just after Necromancer Gothic meets Damien rather than starting with his arrival in Skyrim as what he'd done up to that point could be easily explained in the first chapter as the Necromancer is bound to reminisce as the Gothic's often do. I'll have something up soon for now sate your hunger for fan fiction with this story its going places.

As for the spiders well I think giant man eating spiders are freaks of nature as they were made by Wizards to guard treasure. Humans actually fit into nature or at least we use to until our technology advanced faster than our ability to use it responsibly. Its the fault of the industrial revolution really it created a society humans really shouldn't be living in at this point in our mental advancement. Anyway that's my 2 cents on that issue.

Rkworthy

Things are already derailing and its only going to get worse as you'll see in this chapter.

Luna is a bit more than minion she's going to be the wife but a little competition could be good for the story but who could start crushing on Damien? He's to smart for Granger she wouldn't be able to handle someone smarter than her although at this point she may not know that. I'll think on it.

Diamondace4

I don't take reviews from people who I can't talk back to seriously. Constructive criticism is welcome but your just insulting me and making a mockery of the reviewers who take the time to give their opinions.

However you point on transitions while badly phrased and insulting was valid. Its a problem I have noticed myself. My stories do tend to explain what has been going on between chapters but it can be disorientating to some. Thankfully for most people it doesn't ruin their enjoyment of my work.

RedtheBattler

I don't think the Killing Curse destroys the soul. It may force the soul to disconnect from the body however, Voldemort himself says so and he's the expert as he survived the Killing Curse thanks to his Horcruxs. Add the fact that it also removed the Horcrux inside Potter supports this soul removing idea. Also people killed by that curse can be made to appear using the stone Hallow so something of them must survive after being hit by the curse. True no one killed by that curse has come back as a true ghost, as far as I am aware, but ghosts don't seem to be that common really at least outside of Hogwarts and the youngest one seen is Moaning Myrtle and she's been there for fifty years. Therefore I think the soul removing idea is correct.

As for the intent part I agree its not a nice spell there are lots of ways to kill people using magic however that curse is considered just as bad if not worse as the curses that let you torture people and control their minds. Its a tool of evil in my opinion.

The Killing Curse was in fact created as a quick way of winning duels a task it performs rather well. Lucky for Damien he doesn't duel like a Wizard should.

Actually most Wizards can't produce the Killing Curse

_"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed."_

—Barty Crouch, Jr. as Alastor Moody

In my view this is correct. I also agree that it is an intent spell you need to fuel it with hate just like the torture curse requires you to have to want to cause pain. I think that is one of the reasons why the curse is considered unforgivable. Its only good for murdering people and you have to want to murder to use it. And that's not the same thing as simply killing some.

Damien couldn't use the Killing Curse at this point as he doesn't hate anyone that much. He despises people like Voldemort he's even disgusted with a lot of people but hating someone is different.

Damien solid air shield _should_ work to block the Killing Curse but he's not likely to try and test it. But he's young he can duck and hide behind things. Also the Killing Curse takes longer to cast that most spells so Damien could just sending weaker attackers at a foe preventing them from using the Killing Curse as they would have to keep bring up a shield. Voldemort would be able to defeat such a tactic but against your average DE he should do fine. Plus when does he ever give anyone the chance to cast a spell back at him Damien doesn't duel he attacks people with surprise on his side.

The only known counter to the Killing Curse is sacrificial protection, which uses the magic of love a power Harry, and his Mum, used. In the book version of Deathly Hallows Harry's sacrificial protection is very effective. Between Harry's return from death and Riddle's final death Voldemort was unable to kill anyone with the Killing Curse despite trying. The film version doesn't show this very well. Sadly for Damien he's not got that power.

Creating another defence seems impractical because how would you test it? The Killing Curse reacts very differently when used on non-living things and any failed testing of a counter-spell would kill the person trying to defend themselves from the Killing Curse. So its possible people have tried and failed to come up with another counter-spell.

In fact the only known counter-spell requires you die for other people so even you manage do to it right your dead and therefore can't teach it other people. Aside from Harry but the power of sacrificial protection doesn't seem to be something you can learn its seems to be something you just have.

Your idea of casting Soul Trap on oneself and carrying a Black Soul Gem reminds me of the soulstones used by the Eldar in Warhammer 40K.

Also don't forget Damien has the Black Star which can hold more than one soul as proven in the Skyrim game the Dragonborn's soul (which is a Dragon soul not a human one so it shouldn't of actually worked as Dragon souls don't work like human ones) entered the Black Star while another soul was already inside it so it could hold even Damien's damaged soul due its odd nature.

Necromancer Gothic should be able to do this. He'd be an expert at this sort of magic and the Killing Curse doesn't seem to damage the body aside from disconnecting the soul so if the body is intact the soul could be enchanted back into the body. But that might just get Damien a very powerful zombie since the body is still dead.

However there are ways to bring back the dead using magic and technology in other fictions. Inducing the way Voldemort did it with the whole bones of the father ritual (sadly my father is alive) Using one of these methods plus your Black Soul Gem idea might actually allow that law of wand magic to be broken.

Wow that took a long time to answer maybe in future you should message me such ideas rather than send them in the form of review.

The Joker Lover.

Its nice to be appreciated. Thank you.

A W

What if these Carrow twins are related to Death Eaters, Alecto and Amycus Carrow? A lot of DE's are from old Pureblood families that make up the Sacred Twenty-Eight (although in this story that should be 29 as the Mason family were inserted into the history books) if they are then the Carrow twins are likely potential Death Eaters. The chances are that they related in some way (it might not be that closely) this would concern Damien. Plus he has a lot of Purebloods already in this group.

Then again there is next to nothing about these two girls in the wiki, aside from that they would be in the Slugclub along with Damien, so I could have them be from a different branch of the same family. Being snakes they might be cunning and ambitious to try getting close to Damien if they see him as potential future leader.

His arranged marriage to Luna is public knowledge and trying to supplant her would just put them in a world of pain but an alliance isn't out of the question there would a power vacuum forming in the Pureblood ranks now with so many of them dead.

Someone needs to fill that vacuum inside the school at least. The fact that Damien is a Half Blood can be ignored or even just denied by them and sex is a good tool to win a man's favour so it could work.

The harem doesn't have to be public knowledge I'm sure there's lots of mutual back scratching going on between Purebloods affairs and such going on behind closed doors. I did mention earlier in this fan fic that things homosexuality and even paedophilia are either ignored or quietly dealt without involving law enforcement in order avoid scandal.

Mistresses could be seen in the same light. Its not approved of but as long as you don't draw attention to it then people will turn a blind eye. Given that the rich Pureblood families only have one child most of the time its possible that most marriages are just about getting an heir and that's it. If so then Mistresses would be a way for most men to deal with their sexual urges. Which Arthur Weasly proves they do have and he's poor by Pureblood standards so he wouldn't have a mistress on the side but he does have a lot of kids.

As for the twincest issue the Partvi twins are often used for that but the Carrow twins are such unknowns that as long as I keep them as sneaky Purebloods girls eager for power I can develop them as I wish.

In short brilliant idea A.W

Lootryx

Depends on how the story progresses really were only half way through Damien's schooling which is just book one. But he can visit other worlds at will so I will be including other fictions in this book.

Douchiesnacks

I think there's a beta testing version you can download.

Eien Samsara

I actually wrote that scene so I could later use it to form a link with other Gothic stories. I'm already starting to produce material for Necromancer Gothic but Daedric Prince Gothic might take a while as it deals with a lot of stuff outside human experience. Its first person narrative of a Gothic who is a very alien being compared to the others so it won't be easy to write.

On the plus side I made things easier for myself to write Prince Gothic and Necromancer Gothic since I can now carry on their stories from that First Gothic chapter.

Which feels right to me because The First Gothic is the Gothic that all others owe their existence to so some of their stories should start after meeting him as it helps to show his importance in the grand scheme of all things. Granted some of the Gothics will never met The First Gothic or even any other Gothic but to me its becoming an entire multi-verse multi character saga that I can write about and contains all the story ideas I'll ever need.

Winter Feline.

No need to worry about that. Prince Gothic is the god of the dark arts so First Gothic is part of his sphere of influences so Prince Gothic will make sure the other Gothics don't end up messing with his life too much. It would be a bad idea in any case as The First Gothic is the source of all their new lives. If he goes then the reward is done and the Traveller might decide to end all this amusements. That said as you'll see in this chapter they will mess with The First Gothic's life somewhat but its actually to help him. Necromancer Gothic isn't aware of this but he's somewhat under Prince Gothic's control as well as Prince Gothic is the god of Necromancers.

CookieMonsta1233

Looks like I'll have to get to work on Necromancer Gothic quiet soon then. Hopefully I can have a sample chapter up for viewing within the next couple of weeks. If it goes down well I'll start writing the story.

Author Note: Wow that was a lot of reviews and I had a lot to say. As a fan fic writer its very fulfilling to me to be able to discuss my work like this with you guys and to know your enjoying the story.

If I did miss anything you guys asked about please let me know I will address in the reviews for this chapter or you can message me.

Don't forget that I have a forum for such discussions as well the link is on my profile page feel free to ask questions there as I then I don't have to worry about limiting my answers which was something I actually had to do for this chapter otherwise we never would of gotten to the story.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 21.**

**World Cup Final. Somewhere In England. The Wizarding World. **

The party was a good one but I couldn't afford to enjoy it what with the DE attack due. I had to wait patiently for the moment to strike in order to kill Barty Crouch Junior which would hopefully derail Voldemort's plans. This of course assumed that things were still on course enough for me to do any derailing.

Events had spiralled out of control towards the end of the last school term. Riddle had nearly returned to physical form a whole year early. Had he been successful then my knowledge of the future would become next to useless. As things were I didn't even know if my knowledge was useless or not and Luna was unsure due to seeing so many possible futures since returning from Skyrim.

The only thing I was sure of was that Riddle would still go after the prophecy and that he would use Potter to claim it but aside from that I couldn't be sure of anything.

I could guess but they would only be guesses. That uncertainty scared me much more than the current Dark Lord could ever hope to.

Still I could make assumptions based on evidence and my knowledge could help to me form theories on what could happen next using what I knew about the original time line to guide me.

My current theory was that Voldemort would have gotten himself a body over the summer and that he would get Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire in order to get the Boy-Who-Lived away from Dumbledore so that Potter could be killed.

Villains were often predictable like that but I got the feeling that if Riddle did want the prophecy he wouldn't put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire.

I wouldn't because it would be better to send Potter the visions of the Department Of Mysterious and to lure him there while everyone else was distracted by the Triwizard Tournament. But Wizards weren't known to be sensible and Riddle was (in many ways) very much so your typical Dark Lord.

Dark Lords like to use overly complicated plans as it makes them feel smart and it often gives them the chance to explain their evil plans of evil to the hero just before they attempt to kill said hero.

I knew that sometimes the simple ways are the best because the simpler a plan is the less there is that can go wrong with it. I also knew that explaining your evil plan was always a bad idea. You should only ever gloat over the hero's corpse and that was after you had personal checked that the hero was really dead.

Of course I'd read the Evil Overlord List which did give me an advantage over the local Dark Lords.

I shook my head and chided myself for thinking that way. I was no Dark Lord, not yet anyway. Dark Lords tend to want to rule or destroy the world, and they also tend to have evil minions. I had friends not minions and while ruling the Wizarding World was an idea I was warming up to these days I'd not yet reached that point. Besides I didn't have a name that struck fear into the hearts of men.

Actually thinking on it Neville could be considered my chief henchmen were as Luna might be the femme fatal mistress some Dark Lords liked to keep around for whatever reason.

Ginny didn't really fit into the picture but she might have a use in seducing Potter later. Luna had said so but she hadn't given me an idea of when that could happen and given that the further away an event was the less certain it was Ginny might never snag the Boy-Who-Lived at all.

That made me chuckle as a few months ago I would of be berating myself right now for thinking of people as tools but I didn't much care any more. People, a lot of people, were going to die unless something was done and if that something was me manipulating people as part of my plan to win the coming war then that was fine with me.

But still I had to ask myself a hard question.

Was this how Dumbledore had gotten started? Had he started manipulating people in order to help them?

Somewhere along the way he'd forgotten how to care for the pieces he used to play his games, would that happen to me?

I got the feeling that these sort of questions would be the cause of many a sleepless night to come, but it was to late to turn back now. I'd make myself Riddle's enemy when I'd prevented his return at the end of last school year and I'd killed a few of his followers he wouldn't allow me to get away with such a thing.

In many ways that one action had greatly limited my options but I didn't regret it much. The Death Eaters were sick evil people who deserved a one way ticket to Hell in my opinion and these days I had no problems with being the one to send them there. Still I wasn't eager to face them again.

Last time I'd been very lucky I'd caught my enemies by surprise and defeated them due to clever use of curse aimed at a very flammable potion. I didn't think that the next time I fought them that things would be so easy. They were Dark Wizards who could kill with ease while I was still having trouble killing anyone helpless.

I was sure that I could kill the inbred bigots in battle even if might have problems finishing off the wounded ones but if they started attacking people they'd be met with deadly force. Armed with magic they knew not I would be able to beat them.

Despite knowing that I still wished that Neville was here but he helping his parents to adjust to their newly restored lives. This was how it should be but I'd miss having him watch my back. He was turning out to be quite the War-Wizard what with his magic sword and deadly combat spells.

Sure I'd have Ginny with me and she quite the little spitfire in a duel and Luna to assuming she was focused enough on the present but there's a lot to be said to having a fellow soldier at your side during battle.

No doubt he'd want to be here to if only on the odd chance that Crouch Junior (one of the Death Eaters who had tortured his Mum and Dad) would be his to kill. Had he know he would of demanded the right to get a chance at payback in a proper duel.

Personally I didn't intend to give any enemy of mine the chance to defend himself not if I could help it. That said I wouldn't of gotten in Nev's way if he'd been here and able to take Crouch down in a duel.

At some point during my session of deep thought I'd left the Weasly tent and returned to my own where Luna was waiting.

"Not long now" informed Luna who wasn't the partying kind of girl most of the time but I got the sense that she'd had a few drinks. That was confirmed when she leaned in for a kiss and I tasted something stronger than Butterbeer on her lips.

Something seemed off with my girlfriend lately she was more in touch with the reality around her and she'd started to get more affectionate with me as if she wanted to savour all the touchy feely part of being a couple.

It was a scary change in many ways as she'd always been quite distant with me physically, at least in public, but now it was if she was feeling intense pleasure from the things she'd up until never bothered much with.

For example I was rather a good kisser I'd had plenty of practice even if the whole thing didn't do much for me but I'd never had a girl moan on me the way Luna did. It was somewhat flattering that she seemed to enjoy my attentions so much but if she was enjoying the kissing part so much what was she going to be like when we got the naked part of being a loving couple?

That wasn't all that had changed. Luna was spending more time eating and sleeping (things she never done enough of until now) she was even asking me for spending money (another thing she had until now rarely done) and she was hinting that she wanted to get more physically involved with me.

Thinking about it I had to wonder if she been struck with some sort of Seven Deadly Sins Curse but she was lacking the sins of pride, envy and wrath. Still even four out seven was worrying enough.

I kissed the girl and then told her to calm down.

"Remember the Death Eaters are coming maybe even Voldemort himself"

"I don't care" replied Luna "your the only Dark Wizard I want to be oppressed by"

Oppressed huh? That they hadn't called it that in my day. The idea was inciting to say the least.

"Current Daddy is in the Weasly's tent so we can have a party of our own right here" she offered.

As tempting as that was I had no intention of being caught with my trousers down when the Mort Munchers arrived.

"Maybe later" I told the teen "when no one with death fetish is likely to find us going at it".

Taking advantage of Luna right now when possibly under the effects of some curse would be wrong, I still had some morals left, so I'd at least wait until I could nip her back to Skyrim in order to visit one of the shrines so that any possible curse could be lifted. After that if she still wanted to spread her legs for me I'd be fine with it.

The sound of something going boom was followed by a scream. Great I'd turned down sex and now we were under attack.

"No good deed goes unpunished" I muttered with grabbing my wand and the Wabberjack.

Rather than follow the instructions of Mr Weasly, who was doing a great job of keeping his family and their friends together despite being drunk, Luna and raced towards the sounds of screaming.

As rehearsed we cast the a weak form of invisibility on ourselves. It was longer lasting than a true invisibility spell and in board daylight we'd be quite noticeable, but in the darkness and chaos we went unseen.

When I saw that the Dark Mark was already high in the sky a curse that wasn't a spell left my lips. The Dark Mark had signalled the start of the attack rather than signalling its end. That meant that this Death Eater raid was not going to be the one I'd hoped for.

There were no Muggles in the air nor were the Grave Gourmands (Author Note: I borrowed that one) simply marching this was a full on attack a lot of people were dying.

Rather than fight back the two legged sheep were running for their lives. It was so silly they outnumbered the mask wearing murderers a few hundred to one. If they each had simply cast a tickling charm the KKK of the Wizarding World would already be in Ministry custody. But no like cattle to be herded to the to the slaughter house the magical humans of Europe were leading themselves to their doom. It seemed as if Luna and I would have to be the ones to save the day.

Firing the Wabberjack I watched as a masked terrorist turned into mudcrab which was quickly crushed under the boots of panicked civilians.

From cover I fired again and the seconded targeted Death Eater was able to bring up a shield. However the staff in my hand was the divine instrument of a god and the god of madness at that so the rules of magic were ignored and the Death Eater became a chicken. The fowl bird was soon being kicked around by panicking people and lost in the crowd hopefully like the mudcrab it would die before being transformed back. If it weren't for the fact that I was hiding behind the remains of some family's camping trip in a field rapidly filling with dead bodies this whole thing might have been funny.

Then without warning horrible pain became my entire existence I felt for sure that I was dying only as suddenly as it started it then stopped.

My eyes opened to see the Death Eater who had attacked me rise into the air as a Daedra of some sort impaled the Dark Wizard on his hand and half sword. A spray of blood hit me and the DE screamed in pain as the flame enchantment on the sword holding him up in the air burned him alive before blood loss or shock could kill him.

Now it was the Mort Munchers who were panicking. In their minds a demon (because what else would they call it) had just killed one of them in a very messy way and this made them the scared ones for a change.

While this was happening I was taking in information by the bucket load even while body seemed paralysed unable to act.

The armour the creature wore was deflecting many of the spells sent its way. Deadric armour was not normal armour I knew that but I'd never before realised just how effective it was.

Another thing that came to my notice was the Deadra wasn't attacking everyone it was going after the Dark Wizards. a task made somewhat easier now as the crowd was starting to thin out, this meant that the creature was under someone's control or at least it was a weapon that could be aimed at one type of target.

I also realised that I had seen this happen before while playing Skyrim. The Deadra was the exact same type that using Sanguine's Rose brought forth in the game.

This in turn meant that one of the Outcasts had that Staff. It wasn't Nev as he wasn't here.

It had to be Luna who had the Rose she'd been acting strange ever since we got back from Skyrim and now I knew why.

She had Sanguine's artefact and Sanguine was pretty much the god of the four deadly sins she been embracing so much recently. Luna was either corrupted by the Staff (which was possible as she often had trouble foreseeing dangers to herself) or she was a willing worshipper of the Prince of Partying.

This angered me for a quite a few reasons, one of them being jealously as Luna was suppose to worship me not some evil demon king, but I didn't have the strength or the time to do anything about it right now.

I watched as the demonic being vanished before my eyes. A Killing Curse had hit and the body faded away perhaps to reform elsewhere. Despite the fact that having the monster around had been very useful part of me was glad to see it gone.

By now my body was starting to recover so I grabbed my wand and prepared to defend myself but I was stopped when bolts of red light whizzed over my head. The remaining Death Eaters were totally overwhelmed and taken down their shields did nothing.

At once I reconsidered my opinion about all Wizards either being lazy sheep or wolves in disguises. A force of Aurors had just swooped in from no where and brought down the wrath of the Ministry like the avenging hand of god. It was bloody impressive to say the least.

With a quick mind I studied the Aurors who were now approaching me. None of them looked to be young so I judged them veterans of the last Blood Purity War.

In fact one of them was Moody and he did not look happy to see me.

"Get up you...".

The Minister came rushing to my defence.

"Alastor, its alright he's not a Death Eater I know him. This is Damien Mason a student a Hogwarts he's not even fourteen so I very much doubt he was part of this".

Moody seemed to accept that perhaps because there were actual Death Eaters nearby he could go and harass.

The Minister knelt down next to me and said.

"Damien did you see what happened here".

I gave Fudge a quick reporting telling him that Luna and I had been walking around enjoying the parties when the attack started. I also told him that we had gotten separated and that I was looking for her which was why I hadn't fled with the other children. Better to be thought brave and foolish than to be seen as a fighter.

"What's this?" asked a purple robed Auror gesturing to the Wabberjack.

"I just back from a holiday" I explained "Its a souvenir"

Which from a certain point of view was true.

"Minister there's girl here!" shouted a girl who I guessed was Tonks.

"Luna!"

Concern overwhelmed me and I half ran half stumbled over to her. She was out cold.

"Its okay lad" assured Moody or possibly Crouch Jr "the lass is just stunned".

Quickly I grabbed Sanguine's Rose but it was taken from me by the purple robed Auror.

"Well make sure that your things are returned to you once at St Mungos" promised who I thought was Shacklebot "but right now you children need to leave this is crime scene".

Before I could protest the Minister said.

"Trainee Tonks will take you. Mediwitches are on their way your lady friend will be fine".

Tonks was soon carrying me off. I didn't have the strength to protest so I went with her and soon some woman in a uniform was making me drink something that made me very sleepy.


	22. Chapter 22

**Reviews.**

A.W

I don't think anything short of a lobotomy would make Luna more normal. As for worshipping Sanguine he may be more of a trickster than out right world ending evil like say Molag Bal but he's still an evil god who wants to corrupt people so Damien is right be worried. On the other hand. Harem. Harem. Harem !

Shacklebolt on the staff? He's an Auror not a teacher. Moody teaches defence in the Goblet of Fire. Did I give an impression otherwise? If so didn't mean to.

Ah the Greater Good issue so many people seem to think the Dumbledore is simply using those words as tools in a bid to control people but that might not be the case.

The expression the Greater Good comes from utilitarianism. A person guided by the utilitarian ethic believes in the greater good for the greater number of people even at the expense of an individual's happiness. For example Dumbledore allowed Harry to suffer and die in order to bring about the end of Voldemort which in a big picture sense was a good thing because it means that Voldemort died rather than go around killing people forever due to being an immortal mass murderer. So from a purely utilitarian point of view Dumbledore did the right thing. In fact it still would have been right thing to do even if Dumbledore purposely led Voldemort to go kill baby Potter because while it sucked big time for Harry it did led to ten years or so of peace for the Wizards which was good for a lot of other people.

If Dumbledore really does believe in utilitarianism (which is possible because in the era Dumbledore grew up utilitarianism was quite popular read Hard Times by Charles Dickens for an example) then it was for the Greater Good if you put aside your own morals for a few moments and try to see it from a utilitarian point of view you can understand why Dumbledore did what he did. I'm not agreeing with it but I can understand his reasons but still yeah is an ass.

Damien is actually doing this as well just not always on purpose and he's actually willing to get his hands dirty. In his mind killing the Death Eaters is for the greater good as would be overthrowing, or at least reforming, the magical government in order to create a more fair and just society.

However he isn't going to take power for wealth, tail and prestige. Remember the prophecy? Also he has wealth so that's not an issue. He doesn't need power to get girls given that he's rich, handsome and charismatic. As for prestige he's got some of that he could get more easily without requiring power just by doing what Lockhard pretends he did but for real. Or he could go be a hero on other worlds if he wanted glory.

While its true that Damien might be a villain his ideals are more noble than getting control over people in order to get laid its more about creating a better Wizarding World. Then again the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Also always remember that I am a Sith at heart. Power is about gaining freedom. The more power, wealth and control a person has the more options they have and having the most options in your life means you have more freedom to do as you please. If only my few morals wouldn't get in my way what a life I could lead.

I think I'd go for the boring safe school. Less dead children that way.

douchiesnacks

Enjoy the game and my sympathies on the tooth pulling it does not sound pleasant.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 22.**

**St. Mungo's Hospital. Long Term Spell Damage Ward. The Wizarding World. **

When I woke up there was a rather sexy nurse standing over me waving her wand up and down by body. My first instinct was to stop her but I couldn't move my body it ached too much to allow that.

"Stay still" requested the nurse "I'm just examining you for injuries. You were hit by a rather nasty cruico".

So it had been the torture curse then. I'd heard about that spell and seen it in action but you have to feel it to know just how bad it was.

"Bloody Death Eaters" said a voice on the other side of me "torturing kids they should all get the Kiss".

I couldn't turn my head enough without hurting myself to see who was talking but it was a male voice and not a happy one.

"If Fudge has his way they will" replied the sexy mediwitch "the Ministry is not happy about being embarrassed in front of all those foreigners".

"Skeeters saying as much in the papers" informed the male voice "but its not the Ministry's embarrassment that will get them the Kiss it'll be the protesters".

Either I'd been a sleep for a while or Wizards could organise a protest really fast.

"Its not just the Prophet either" added the nurse "that Outcast newsletter really got people angry by telling them all about how some kids got killed or tortured".

How the hell had the Outcasts managed that? I wrote that newsletter. Luna might have been able to manage it alone but... Of course Neville and Ginny they must of written something quickly got it to Xeno could print the newsletter over night and have it all over Wizarding Britain by morning. He might not be the best Dad ever but he would do something about Luna being put in danger even if it only involved printing the newsletter.

"You should be able to move now" said the male voice and I turned to see a middle aged Healer looking at me "your in the long term spell damage ward but don't worry you'll recover. Your only here cause the Minister wanted you and your girlfriend somewhere the reporters wouldn't find you. So lucky you, you get your own private room".

That made sense. If Fudge had did indeed have some intention of having me replace Malfoy as his adviser and financial backer in a few years time he would make sure I got favourable treatment.

This was supported by the fact that I'd been invited to sit with him during the match (despite the fact that I already had tickets) and I was pretty sure the seats Luna, Xeno and myself had sat in would have been for the Malfoys originally.

I was then told that Luna was still knocked out but that she also had no long term damage to worry about as she just taken a few stunners but before I could get fully out of bed and confirm this for myself the Minister decided to pop in for a visit.

"Ah Damien I'm glad to see that your up" said Fudge with genuine sounding pleasure in his voice "I just wanted to pop by and check in on you before you head back to school in a few days."

Did he now that was nice of him. There must be something in this for him. Positive PR maybe, visiting sick children was good for that.

"You'll be happy to know that all your belongings were recovered along with your tent. Which were returned to the Rookery as that is where you are officially staying during the summers".

I remembered that technically I was a ward of the state but since I lived at Hogwarts most of the time there had been no point in anyone adopting me when I could just spend my summers at a friend's house. Benefits of being from an important Pureblood family. No Muggle Orphanage for me.

"Your betrothed will recover I am told and your future Father In Law is fine as are you school friends. Very lucky all things considered".

Always eager to get more information I asked a question.

"How bad was the attack Minister?".

Fudge seemed to deflate a little as he answered.

"Very bad I am afraid. The dead are still being counted. Many visitors from around the world are fleeing the country which is causing a lot of problems with the Muggles. There not stupid after all. With thousands of people in robes running around the country how could they not notice that something is wrong".

Actually knowing Muggles as I did they were more likely to think it was a bunch of new age druids running amok rather than real life Wizards but Fudge had a point it would cause problems.

Here in the 1990s it wouldn't be to bad no one had camera phones and there was no Youtube to post videos of all the Wizards on but still the papers and news would talk about it. This must be stressing out the Ministry staff no end.

"But that's not for you to worry about" assured Fudge "what is of concern to everyone is the Death Eaters. A few of them died, a few more escaped but most of them are in custody. I'm getting a lot pressure to give them all the Kiss".

Fudge might not care for my advice but he would pretend to so I gave it as there was a small chance he might listen if he was thinking of grooming me to replace Malfoy.

"They should be Kissed" I said "They attacked children like me with me dark magic. I got hit by a curico I've heard about that spell you have to want to torture someone to use which means whoever got me wanted to torture me and I'm a kid".

At times like this my enhanced charisma really comes in handy.

"Your right of course" Fudge agreed "and the protest at the Ministry supports this as does that Outcast Newsletter".

"You've read it?" I asked in a tone of surprise.

"Oh yes" replied Fudge "its been a bit of a thorn in my side but no more than the Prophet can be, its actually a very good publication it made me realise just how dangerous posting the Dementors at the school could have been".

I was pleased by this as that had been the intention all along. Public opinion was a useful tool at times.

"Dumbledore told me once that he suspects that you were behind the paper as it seems focused around Hogwarts and many events that you were either part of or at least witness to. But you have been asleep since the attack so he clearly guessed wrong. I suspect that its the work of some former students who have younger siblings still inside the school".

Well that was relief. I didn't know if Nev and Gin had purposely gotten a paper out for the reason of lifting suspicion from me but that didn't really matter right now.

"So the Death Eaters will be Kissed?" I asked wanting to get back to the issue at hand.

"With the break out I don't see that we have a choice" explained Fudge "we found Barty Crouch Junior who was suppose to be have died in Azkaban along with the Death Eaters we captured. That combined with Black's earlier escape and the mass break out just weeks ago its clear that we no longer contain these criminals".

The news about Crouch was great that meant I didn't have to deal with a Death Eater pretending to be a teacher. But the news about the break out did worry me. Even without a body Voldemort could be very dangerous if he had followers to order around. They had to dealt with quickly. To ensure this I urged the Minister to take action hoping that my words would have some effect.

"They aren't just criminals Minister they are child abusers, murderers and terrorists. Criminals steal and kill for money terrorists kill for a cause and their cause is the death of everyone who isn't one of them. They are not criminals they are monsters".

My passionate statement seemed to have an effect but there was someone who could counter my powers with words of his own.

"It saddens to me hear you say that Damien. Even Death Eaters deserve a chance for redemption".

I should of kept my mouth shut at this point but the Headmaster's words angered me.

"Damn you Dumbledore your just enabling them. Don't you see that. They don't want redemption if they did they would never of attacked anyone at the World Cup. They had a chance to walk away from that life but they came back and more people died".

Both authority figures seemed quite shocked that I said that. Few people ever spoke to the Headmaster like I had just done.

"Naturally your angry" countered Dumbledore "but do not let that angry control you".

He was starting to sound like a wise old Jedi Master.

"Anger leads to hateful actions and that is their way not ours. We should be forgiving even to those who spurn our kindness".

No I was wrong a Jedi Master would take his lightsabre and kill the Death Eaters he just wouldn't do it while angry. I didn't have that kind of control I was very angry.

"Fine lock them up" I argued back "then they can escape again and kill more people. Then you'll lock them up again and they will escape again. This will just carry on until were all dead. They have no respect for law and order they're psychopaths who should be put down like the rabid animals that they are!"

My point wasn't that well phrased but my enhanced charisma combined with the passion in my voice won this round. As Fudge listened to me he seemed to be driven by that passion.

"The lad has a point Dumbledore" agreed Fudge in strong tone of voice "if we show mercy we may be seen as weak"

"Please both of you. Vengeance is not the way" cautioned Dumbledore with desperation in his voice.

"This isn't vengeance Headmaster" I corrected "vengeance would be to attack the friends and family of those Death Eaters or to simply kill them. Putting those murderers on trail and then giving them the Kiss is justice, harsh justice yes but also necessary. The Ministry needs to send a clear message to those who would attack the innocent by making it clear that any further attacks will be dealt with. Then the remaining Death Eaters will be to afraid to harm anyone else".

Now that had had been phrased much better and it seemed to be very effective on not just Fudge but also the staff that heard. They looked ready to start clapping. The Minister was almost totally convinced if I pushed just a little more Dumbledore would be unable to change Fudge's mind later.

"Your stance of forgiveness is admirable Headmaster and those Death Eaters who show true repentance should be left alone but those that attacked us at the World Cup are not seeking repentance they were just waiting for the chance to go back to their old ways. They are evil people and all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".

That last bit was borrowed from a much wiser person than myself but the words worked.

"He's right Dumbledore!" the Minister said his voice booming for all to hear "they had their chance for redemption many of those Death Eaters captured last night were let lose at the end of the last war, but given the chance they went right back to their old ways. I will not allow them to bring those dark days back. The peace must be kept!"

Wow until now I'd never really seen enhanced charisma in action like this. I'd always know that I could charm people into trusting and liking me but I'd had no idea how easy it was to make people see things my way. Clearly my powers were growing. I really could be the next Dark Lord.

Fudge stormed out of the building like a man driven to action rather a politician who bent to the whims of those who lined his pockets. Those captured Death Eaters were as good as Kissed.

Dumbledore gave me a concerned look and I knew that from now on he would be keeping a very close eye on me but for now I'd won I just wondered what this victory would cost me.

I didn't think he would go as far as to attack me directly. He'd put me in danger once to make himself look like the good guy (I'd seen right through that) but he wasn't the kind to get his hands dirty. More likely he'd show his displeasure with me in a more subtle way.

"You have visitors" informed the Headmaster rather coldly "the Healers will only allow two people in at once time so I will send Miss. Granger in first".

Dumbledore's normal aura of kindly grandfather was gone he looked old and tired. His time was nearly over I could feel it. Soon he would be gone and he knew that I could sense it.

The Headmaster left and Granger appeared with the traditional bunch of grapes as well as get well soon card her card was a Muggle one I noticed store brought which meant she'd gone to the Muggle world to get one before coming here.

I didn't think Granger would have been allowed to wander off alone after the attack but clearly she had perhaps the Weaslys didn't care about her that much.

"This a surprise" I said after taking a few seconds to calm down from my last visit.

"I thought we were friends" she said "friends visit friends who are in hospital".

Fair point but we'd never been close despite our little heart to heart.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked.

A copy of the Daily Prophet was presented. My name was mentioned as someone the heroic Auror's had saved. An attempt to make the Ministry look good obviously.

Granger emptied a paper bag which contained cards from Nev and Ginny. Ron and Harry had signed Ginny's card and I assumed that the Wizard junk food was from them as Ginny knew I didn't eat that stuff. Still it was nice of them.

"The Carrow twins are waiting to see you" informed Granger.

"Who are they" I questioned.

"Slytherins" she answered with the normal tone of destine her school house had for their rivals "they're Purebloods, very old Wizarding family. Like yours".

"I'm a half blood" I reminded the teen.

"I just mean there part of the Sacred Twenty-Nine" she explained "Like the Malfoys and the Masons".

"And the Weasly family" I pointed out.

That document was out of date and it was all lies anyway there's not such thing as Pureblood these days. If there ever had been real Purebloods it didn't matter any more as what was left by now were insane inbred killers and one very large clan of red heads who weren't exactly a sane lot in my view.

"So why are they visiting you?" the girl inquired.

"A little quid pro quo please Granger" I requested with mock hurt "I'm on my death bed here you know".

She knew I was teasing but she went along with it. Perhaps because I was the only student who knew what quid pro quo meant at least out of those who would talk to her. Intellectual discourse was rare at Hogwarts even in the bird house.

"I don't know why they are visiting me I'd never heard of them until you mentioned them".

Okay now my turn.

"How is Potter? I mean really is he okay? He should be living with his godfather rather than his abusive family".

She should of asked how I knew these things but she had to answer my questions first that was how the game worked.

"Harry is freaked out by the attack and locked up inside... his godfather's house. This Aunt is saying with him because his Uncle and Cousin are still missing".

She couldn't say where he was due to a certain charm. Interestingly while I couldn't say the name of the place either I did know where it was. The charm must not work on me for me for some reason, perhaps it was because I'd gotten the secret when reading the Order of the Phoenix.

The news that Potter's Aunt was at the Order's Headquarters intrigued me. It was either for her protection or maybe it had something to do with those blood wards.

"My turn" she reminded "and answerer truthfully"

I'd either answer truthfully or just not answer.

"Are you behind the Outcast paper?".

"Yes" I answered simply.

"Why did you...".

I stopped her there.

"Remember quid pro quo" I reminded her in a serious tone of voice.

She couldn't help but giggle for some reason perhaps it was pjs it hard to take some seriously when they look like their Mummy should be taking care of them.

"At least it explains why you are so well informed about everything" she said with a sigh of relief.

"The Hogwarts gossip network is a great source of information" I told her with a cheeky smile on my face "That one was free".

"Its your turn" she insisted.

Well there were many things I wanted to know and given my Seer was out of action I did need to use more conventional sources of information but Granger wasn't an unlimited source of knowledge so I'd have to ask questions she could answer.

"Why are you still hanging with the Ginger Prat?"

"I'm not" she replied "Its just that he's Harry's friend".

I gave her a look that I'd perfected the use of when digging information out of my little brothers and sisters while growing up. It always works.

"Its not like I want to be around him" she insisted "but who else do I have?"

"Well there's me" I said as both of a reminder of our friendship and as an answer to her question "I've been there for you but you seem to prefer to hang around with someone who belittles your intelligence every chance he gets".

Sensing that I was getting through to her I tested out my powers of manipulation and leadership.

"He drags Harry down to. We all know he's important to dealing with Voldemort but he's never going to be the Wizard he can be if the likes of Ron is all he has to count on. We need to get him away from Potter.

It really was a horrible thing to say. Ron was an idiot and a selfish one that but so many teenagers are.

"How?" she asked.

Technically it was my turn again but I was on a role so why quit now.

"Well we could drive him and Harry apart. Show Potter what real friends are like. Make Ron show his true colours by exploiting his weaknesses. That sort of thing".

"That would be mean, Damien" she told me.

I noticed that she said mean not wrong the distinction was important.

"Its called tough love" I told the girl "Harry never had parents so someone needs to look out for him and if needs be take control of at least some parts of his life. The Weasly family is indulgent, they give him acceptance and affection which he does need but they don't challenge him, or encourage him to strive for more. He needs someone for that and that should be you".

At times like this I realised just how lucky I had been to have a parent who supported me but also knew when I needed a kick in the ass in order achieve more.

Xeno then arrived looking as if he wanted to talk to me, no doubt about Luna.

"Think about what I said Granger" I asked of the teenager who had gotten the hint and started to take her leave.

One Hermione was gone my future in law took her seat. He looked very tired and concerned which was completely understandable

"I can't stay long Luna is awake now but they kicked me out so they could examine her fully".

I assumed that meant without her clothes on as even Wizard healers know that having ones parents close by while recovering is important but getting examined while nude is different matter.

That made me worry about when they'd done that to me I was in night clothes and without underwear so someone had stripped me. I found that rather creepy.

"Visiting hours are almost over anyway and do need to go home and get some sleep".

Bugger now I'd have to send the Carrow twins away and invite them back tomorrow as politely as possible. Shame really I was very curious as to why two Purebloods snakes wanted to visit someone they hardly knew at St. Mungos. Ah well it was important they'd come back.

Xeno leaned towards me and whispered.

"I got another issue of your newsletter out rather than publish the Quibbler. Your friends insisted upon it".

Nev and Gin going boldly into action without thinking things through they really were in the right house. Although I surely wasn't.

"My Luna told me that you got hurt".

He only ever called her 'My Luna' when he was deeply concerned about her and it took a lot to make Xeno concerned given how laid back he was.

"She got hurt trying to protect you again didn't she".

He wasn't angry at me despite the fact that he should be but he was troubled by this and he was right to feel that way.

"Yes" I said truthfully "and I don't think that this will be the last time either".

"I want her safe"

He seemed to almost be almost asking me for something.

"I don't control her" I pointed out "she got a strong desire to protect those she cares about and she will act on it. To protect her I'd have to break her heart and I don't think she could take another loss".

Another more normal Father would at this point be demanding that I distance myself from Luna but Xeno wasn't normal and he was smart to know that it wouldn't work anyway.

"Her mother was the same she'd do what she thought she had to do, but she also paid the price for that" said Xeno with great sadness in his voice.

We both sat thinking that Luna would to if she carried on like this.

I often wondered if my future wife knew more about what I would do in the future than I did. Even back when we first met she knew I'd be the next Dark Lord.

Looking back over my life for the last couple of years I began to see Luna's hand in a lot of things. She'd really started the Outcasts who were turning into my version of the Death Eaters only without the fear of death at my hands and the mutual Muggle hating.

She had drop hints that led to us getting betrothed she'd even gone as far as to show me what married life would be like.

We slept in the same bed at the Rookery, something that was becoming more awkward as my body matured.

She'd argued with my House Elf about bringing me that snack the first time we'd lived together. Had that been more than simple jealously or wanting to make it clear who would be taking care of me while I was at her house?

As I manipulated others she was manipulating me and I didn't like that.

Behind every great man is a great woman.

Did Luna want to be that great woman? Was she encouraging me out of a desire to make me who I could be or was I just a tool to bring about the changes she wanted? Did she even know she was doing this? Worse was I the reason this version of Luna was like this or was this the real Luna who I'd brought out of her shell and unleashed upon the world?

So many questions.

"She needs me" I told Xeno "she loves me".

I was sure that she did.

"And I need her but I also want her to live so I'm going to have to... practice some tough love".

"Does that involve dressing up?" asked Xeno "I use to that with Luna's mother she'd wear this...".

"No!" I protested loudly as I really didn't want to hear the end of that sentence.

"Are you sure I still have the outfit it might not fit Luna yet but..".

"No!" I said again.

I was getting really odd looks from the staff now. And from some of patients too but they were already crazy so no harm there. Still I really should close the door, not much point having a private room if everyone can see and hear you.

"I just mean I might need to take a firm hand and stop her from doing something silly" I explained.

"That's what I use to do with the wife" Xeno regrettably informed "she quite it liked when I spanked her".

Actually that might work with Luna she'd enjoy it I was sure but I'd save that for Plan B. Plan A would just involve having a very long talk.

"I think I still have the paddle" Xeno rambled on.

If I didn't know what he was smoking I'd be wondering what it was. At this rate I need some myself.

"How about we save this talk for the Christmas" I suggested to Xeno "I'll try talking to Luna and if that doesn't work we can revisit the spanking idea".

At this was better than him demanding that I break off the planned marriage. Embarrassing relatives I could live with Luna I couldn't live without. I meant that literary I'd get myself killed pretty quickly without her.

"Marvellous" said Xeno "Luna walked in and me and her mother once so she knows what to do".

How the hell could he go from concerned parent to insane parent so quickly?

The Nurse came over with a potion and said.

"Time for sleep now you still need to rest Mr. Mason some dreamless sleep potion is in order".

I was to controlled to thank her out loud but I really wanted to thank her on bended knee for ending the chat I was having.

"I told your other visitors to come back tomorrow morning" informed the Nurse as I got back into bed "they said they would be back in the morning and left you this".

The box she handed me was full of Cauldron Cakes, pricey ones. This could be bad. Wizards don't wrap boxes in clear plastic so there was no way to know if the box had been opened and then resealed so they could be spiked with a love potion. That was something I could deal with later if true and in any case it might just be paranoia

As the Dreamless Sleep potion started to kick in I laid back on my bed and started to wonder about a lot of things but while this normally would cause me a case of insomnia I was soon falling asleep and leaving my troubles behind.


	23. Chapter 23

Author Note: Woot one hundred thousand words and still going. Also 139 reviews and climbing which is quite a lot by my standards.

Reviews

Hypnosis Writer

Doesn't that involve learning magic used by monsters in the Final Fantasy games by being attacked by those monsters?

douchiesnacks

I think this story is getting to the point were it starts writing itself. The words are just pouring out of me like when I wrote parts of Overlord Gothic only this story is better planned.

CookieMonsta1233

Well the point of these stories is that Gothic has special powers as that was the reward and I simply can't see the list alone being enough even if he is the only one who has it.

Unless he's already a typical dark lord but without special powers, maybe just wealth and his brains like say Lex Luthor, and then he uses the list to actually beat the heroes and rival dark lords.

Given that your reviewing for chapter 21 then by this point I already did.

Lennex MacDuff

I like to think that my trick to writing interesting SI fics is that I imagine that the character is an alternate version of myself rather than the true me. Makes it a bit less egoistical that way. Not all of my stories as a good as this one The First Gothic seems to be the most popular by far.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 23.**

**St. Mungo's Hospital. Long Term Spell Damage Ward. The Wizarding World. **

After a good nights sleep I felt much better about things but not to the point were I could pretend (at least not to myself) that everything was okay.

I was still angry at those fucking Death Eaters. Scared that my girlfriend might actually be the one manipulating my life. And worried about a lot of things. Mostly about myself.

It hadn't hit me until this morning but I might of played a big part in allowing some demons to suck out some people's souls. Granted they weren't souls worth saving but still I felt a little guilty about the whole thing. Not enough to do anything about the situation but it still bothered me.

I was also worried about Dumbledore and that I might of made him my enemy more so than before. Until now I hadn't really done that much against him (at least nothing he could prove) but yesterday I'd stood up to him publicly and pretty much told him that I completely disagreed with his methods.

There no chance of me joining the Order any time soon, not that was a great loss and I was too young anyway so it was of no real concern. What was of concern was that people who don't support the Headmaster are often seen as Dark Wizards. Being seen as such was something to be avoided at least for now.

An idea suddenly popped into my skull. I could send Dumbledore a letter saying I was sorry for what I said claiming that I had indeed let my anger control me. If the old man really did embrace the idea of forgiveness for those who seek it then the letter could get me back into his good graces or at least out of his bad ones for a while. If not well it was still worth trying as it wouldn't take a lot of effort.

I quickly wrote the note gave it to Tizzy who send it off via Owl and I also told her to get me some Muggle style clothes.

Having a House Elf totally rocks within thirty seconds she was back and I was getting dressed.

I wanted to walk around a bit. It was less embarrassing to that if you had more between flashing your private parts to people than string holding up some pj bottoms.

Really at this point I should be going to see Luna along with something brought from the gift shop, but like a coward I was avoiding her so I ended wandering aimlessly.

The reason for this was that last night I'd come to the conclusion that was Luna was manipulating me much like Dumbledore manipulated Potter.

Sure everyone manipulates everyone else but most people just don't realise it as its not done on purpose. You buy a round in the pub and that manipulates everyone into liking you a lot more than the bloke who never buys a round. But its quite different to purposely manipulate someone your suppose to love in an attempt to turn them into a Dark Lord To Be.

To be fair it might of happened anyway but I just hated the idea that anyone was forcing me into the role and if Luna was purposely doing it then she was also betraying me, and that hurt.

On some level I knew this made me a hypocrite as if Luna hadn't turned out to be a Seer I might never of become her friend in the first place but still I felt like she'd moulded me into the man she wanted to be.

Physically I wasn't even fourteen but I'd already killed five possibly six people and if Luna had been subtlety guiding me into the man I now was then she'd made me a killer.

On the other hand if I was honest with myself I might have been a killer much sooner. Snape could of died at my hands before the end of my first school year or at least been horribly wounded.

Maybe it just because it was me who was getting manipulated. I knew other people were trying to be the one controlling me it was just that it was easy to see through their manipulations. Maybe Luna's manipulations hurt because I didn't see them due to the trust I'd given but that she had abused.

Add to all the fact that she was either corrupted by or of her own free will worshipping an evil god and it was somewhat understandable why I was a bit upset with her.

Sure some of that demon god worshipping issue was my jealously, I wanted her to worship me not some horned pervert monster from another universe, but there were valid concerns to be addressed on that subject.

Perhaps I was being to harsh on my other half. She did saved my life during that detention and gotten hurt fighting along side me at the World Cup. A person doesn't risk themselves like that unless they really care.

Still some time apart in order to think was a good idea. We did need to talk but this wasn't the place for such a discussion. Later when there was no one around to overhear us we could hash this out.

I mentally switched topics to another concern. That of the Carrow twins who had also figured out that I was the one behind the Outcast paper and they wanted in.

Also I'd killed their aunt and uncle when preventing Voldemort's return. I knew this because the the twins had identified the bodies. They didn't know that I had killed the older Carrows but the twins wouldn't of minded as their aunt and uncle were Death Eaters who the twins suspected had murdered their parents for not being Death Eaters.

The twins had then offered to back me if I made for a play for a power at the school. The vacuum they wanted to fill didn't exist just yet but with so many Purebloods either now dead or about to be Kissed a lot of teenagers were about to become like me which is to say orphans with a lot of wealth and no parental oversight.

A tempting offer but I had no desire to led the next generation of Death Eaters and I had enough Purebloods in my life as it was.

The counter offer was more enticing. They would join me in whatever power bloc I did form. They were offering loyalty oaths in exchange for protection and a high rank in what group I did end up leading even if it was anti Death Eater and anti Dumbledore.

So I could form a third party. The Outcasts as more than a group of ignored kids rallying behind the one person who noticed they existed when at school.

I liked this idea and the twins new oaths nearly as good as the unbreakable one.

They hadn't told me why they wanted an alliance but I got the sense that they needed it badly and that they could tell that I was going places.

That might be due to Slughorn he was a good judge of character. The teacher could tell who was going to go places and he did devote a lot of attention to me at the club's meetings, not that I'd ever cared.

Add to that my wealth, my actions so far and the fact that I was once again top of my year. And from an outsiders point of view it could add up to 'this guy is going to either be the next Dark Lord or the next Minister of Magic'.

Both could be possible. I had the money to fund both careers and the family heritage needed to rule Pureblood society (despite being a half blood) either legally or not.

Becoming Minister of Magic I hadn't until today given that idea much thought. I could do it, it wouldn't be easy or cheap but I did rise to the top of this generation and exploit the coming power vacuum it was possible.

In fact it was possible to be both but that was risky. As Ministry of Magic, or even someone just gunning for the job, I'd have next to no time to do the stuff a Dark Lord needs to do. I'd also be the public eye quite often.

Perhaps then a puppet Minister someone I put into office while me the Dark Lord is the power behind the throne. Voldemort had done that in the Deathly Hollows and it had worked for a while.

Still no matter what my plan was I foresaw a use for the Carrow Twins, they were pretty, young, talented and most importantly power hungry. Perfect future Outcast versions of Death Eaters.

Once I was in school I take their oaths tell them the truth and see if how things went. I might have to wipe their memories if they were thinking Minister of Magic rather than Dark Lord.

"Damien".

A girl's voice got my attention and to my surprise it was Granger and she looked hot. Short denim skirt, a top that exposed her navel along with a denim jacket over it. By Wizard standards she walking around half naked. By Muggle standards it was a bit sluttish but not that bad.

"Looking good girl" I said with some charm in my voice.

I was actually pleased to see her. She was a welcome distraction right now which was something I needed as I really didn't want to go and see Luna.

"Thanks" she replied trying not to blush "its nice to dress in something more normal. I'd never get away with it if Molly Weasly was around but what she doesn't know won't kill her".

Ah teenage rebellion its always amusing to watch.

"They do have a very Victorian mindset" I agreed "thank goodness I had a muggleborn mother otherwise I'd either be calling you a scarlet woman or possibly I'd simply faint from all the excitement".

My joke made her smile but its wasn't all good humour.

"Sometimes it is like going back to the Victorian era" she said as we took a seat in the waiting room my legs had led me to "well maybe not that bad but the swimsuits aren't very sexy. I go topless when in France but I'd probably arrested if I went swimming in the lake while wearing my bikini".

I stopped talking in order to imagine topless Hermione. She wasn't that well endowed in the chest department but given that I hadn't seen any boobs for a while I didn't care.

Then it clicked. She was flirting with me! And doing it rather well. Ah damn it why did she have to look like Emma Watson with the hair tied back and normal looking teeth!

Luna would kill me if I did anything and you can't hide anything when your girlfriend sees what you do before you've even done it. Yet part of me wanted to do something but that would be foolish.

Then again I'm suppose to be a Dark Lord (something Luna not only supported but also encouraged) and this whole situation was one big chance to gain another follower.

And there was that little voice in the back of my head screaming HAREM!

"Are you alright?" asked Granger.

Unlike my other friends she wasn't use to the fact that my mind tended to wander off while leaving my body behind so I explained.

"Don't worry I was just having some deep thoughts. Its a problem I have"

I didn't need to be a mind reader to know that she thinking about how refreshing it was to be to talk someone who could actually have deep thoughts or at least ones that didn't come from the mind of a broody teenage Boy-Who-Lived.

Okay so right now I was thinking that my boner was much easier to hide thanks to the jeans I had on but I did have deep thoughts most of the time.

Given that Granger was making an effort not to look as if she was looking at me she must of noticed.

"So what brings you here?" I inquired.

"You actually" she replied "well that and I need some things for school".

Motivated by shopping and boys, she really was a girl under the bookworm costume.

"I did mine before the World Cup" I told the girl trying to think of something to say "best to avoid the back to school rush".

"Did you by some dress robes?" she questioned "Ron had a hissy fit when he saw his".

For that I didn't blame him. No man should wear something with frills and ruffles its just plain wrong at least outside of a Shakespeare's plays.

"Already own some there not to bad and they expand to fit me being tailor made".

Which was great because there was no way I was going to buy more of the horrid things.

"Don't suppose you know why we need them do you?" the teen asked.

I leaned to make it seem as if I was sharing a great secret.

"My informants".

Granger giggled at this but I pressed on.

"Yes I have informants, and they tell me that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place this year. This involves a Yule Ball and that's why we need formal dress robes".

She believed me but still she couldn't help but pry into my business.

"How do you know?".

I smirked and told.

"The Ministry wants to put up some foreign diplomats in Malfoy Manor which I inherited what with being Draco's second cousin so they needed my permission. Which led to telling me why they needed to use the house".

I could have been more impressive if I had mentioned that Fudge himself had asked but I didn't need to show off that much nor did I need to tell her that no had actually mentioned what the important event after the World Cup was either.

"Draco was your cousin!" she said with shock in her voice.

"Second cousin" I clarified "We'd never even met. Most of the Pureblood families are interrelated but because Lucy I shampoo my hair three times a day Malfoy"

She giggled again.

"has... had so many family members locked up I got everything. If its a choice between innocent orphan and insane Death Eaters who can't even get to the money its not hard to see why I was picked. Even Wizards (or at least the Goblins) know that money needs to spent and people need to be paid. If one of the DE's had gotten the money then a very large family fortune would be sitting in a vault doing nothing but I can pay the people who worked for the Malfoys and collect the rent on their lands. Or at least authorise other people to do it".

Granger nodded her understanding.

"If Sirius Black hadn't been locked up he would of gotten the money or maybe Harry".

Hermione looked confused so I explained further.

"All the Purebloods are distant cousins there's a team of people at Ministry who keep track of this stuff as reading family trees requires years of study. What's important is that while we might have different points of view which led us to fight in these Blood Purity Wars pretty much anything short of being caught in the act of killing a family member won't stop the money from staying the family if your the heir. Its a bit like being part of one big messed family of medieval nobility really some branches will even marry cousins to help avoid the money going to someone who isn't of pure Pureblood".

"That's barbaric" she protested.

"This whole society is barbaric" I pointed out "arranged marriages are the norm, there's a strict class system that ensures that unless you have the right parents you will never have any position of power, and you'll be the target of Death Eaters who will try and murder you, after the torture, because your not an inbred sicko like them".

The sad thing there was that I didn't have to embellish anything.

"Your only hope for any sort of decent life in this world is that Harry beats Voldemort and that you marry a Pureblood".

For a second I thought she was going to run off crying but she held her ground.

"Dumbledore..."

"Is either a fool or a monster" I said interrupting "he left Harry with abusive relatives, he left bait for Voldemort in a school full of children. He let the school be guarded by soul sucking demons. He hired a known Death Eater to teach. He let Sirius Black rot in jail. Oh and he tried to kill me",

Her shock gave me the chance to explain what I had just said.

"Dumbledore knew that Potter would suffer at his aunt and uncle's but left him there anyway without even bothering to let him know he was a Wizard. You know that because Harry despite coming from a family nearly as old as mine knows nothing of the society he's a very important part of".

She knew I was right I could see it in her face. My enhanced charisma was working its wonders once more.

"He put that stone in the school and three first year students got past its defences. Think about that three kids got past them so they had no chance of stopping Voldemort which means Dumbledore wanted him to get to the stone. He did that despite the fact that letting a mass murdering Wizard anywhere near the school is criminal in of its self never mind the fact that if the stone was real it might of given Voldemort the chance to come back into power".

I pushed a bit more.

"And there's Sirius Black. Innocent man locked up Dumbledore had to know who the Secret Keeper was because he would of performed the charm".

Okay that part was speculation but given that he had done the charm on the Order's Headquarters it did make one think that it was possible Dumbledore had done the charm in Godric's Hollow. Of course it was also possible that Lily Potter, who was known for being skilled at charms, had done the spell but there was no proof to support that idea.

"So that means that Dumbledore let Black rot behind bars. Why? So that Potter could be abused by Muggles!".

She was crying by this point and without warning she ran off but that might have been because she didn't want Neville, who had just walked in on us, to see her cry. Up until now we'd been alone as this ward didn't many visitors but now that we weren't she had a reason to leave.

"What was that about?" asked Nev.

"Evil Dumbledore speech" I explained.

Neville understood at once having heard the speech but I had to wonder if he was really that evil because it was Luna who had told me that the Headmaster was evil. But the evidence did support my girlfriend there so I didn't doubt her about that issue at least.

"No grapesm no card" I said to my best friend who was empty handed "I'm deeply hurt Neville".

The smile on my face and tone of voice made it clear that I didn't really mind.

"I only just found out" he informed me "I came straight here on the Knight Bus".

Understandable he would have been catching up with parents and not reading the paper.

"Not to worry" I said "I'm fine Luna is fine. Everyone else got away okay".

Well everyone we knew anyway. A lot of other people couldn't say the same but everyone Nev cared about was still breathing.

"Gran was summoned to the Ministry for a vote on what to do about the Death Eaters" Nev was saying "she voted for the Kiss you'll be happy to know".

Good.

"Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't caught but her husband was and Crouch".

Again good as it meant that Bellatrix could be killed by Neville if I could arrange such a thing.

"I wanted to say thanks for bringing my parents back"

This was something I'd hoped to avoid as I had worried that he might be angry for not letting him do it or at least about not being involved but Luna had been right. Neville was just happy to have them whole again the details didn't matter. Still I felt the need to say something.

"I would of told you but I didn't want to get your hopes up. If I'd told you and it didn't work it would have been... well really bad".

My way with words still needed some work.

"I know" assured Nev "you did the right thing and I owe you".

A protest died on my lips as my friend kept talking.

"Whatever it is your planning I'm with you. Dumbledore could never do what you did and He-Who-Must- I mean V-V-Voldemort well he's the reason they needed you to heal them in first place so fighting either or both I'm with you".

If only there were more Neville Longbottoms in the world it would be a much better planet to live on.

"Thanks Nev that means a lot".

It really did it was better than any magical oath.

Men sharing feelings is never easy so Neville changed the subject.

"Have you seen Snape? I've heard he's nice now. Thinks he's a teenager".

Of course Snape would be here why hadn't I realised that. This was the long term spell damage ward after all where else would he be.

The bit about being a teenager again amused me. I was a grown man's mind in a teenagers body and he was teenager's mind in a grown man's body. This was something I had to see for myself

"Show me" I requested of my best friend.

Nev led me to one of the private rooms and until the door was opened I wondered why a memory wiped Death Eater rated a private room. The reason was that he could afford to pay for it.

The room was part bedroom part potions lab. Snape was brewing up a storm or at least a fog judging by the air quality in the room.

"Oh hello" greeted Snape with nervousness in his voice "your not healers. What do you want?".

Any desire I may have had to to gloat vanished. Snape wasn't Snape he was child in a man's body. He was a completely different person.

"We were students of yours" I explained "we came to visit".

Snape brightened up.

"Like Hermione she was here yesterday. Do you know her?"

She must save the hot outfit for Lockhart then or that effort had been for solely for me as I had thought earlier.

"Yes were both in her year" I answered as Neville seemed to be unable to fully process all of this he hadn't actually spoken to teenager Snape as of yet I guessed.

"Was I as a good of a teacher as she says?"

That was question hard to answer without lying. Truths that didn't really answer the question were better in my opinion so I gave the best answer I could.

"You knew... well still do it seems a lot about potions and your book was really good".

Damn I should not of mentioned that.

"I wrote a book?" he asked confusion "I have the essays I got published but there's no book".

No reason to lie now.

"It was a school book you wrote in. Lots of notes I follow them in class and my potions are the best in class so that means yours were as well".

Neville left to laugh or cry I couldn't tell but I saw his red face as he exited the room.

Snape seemed not to notice or perhaps he just assumed Nev wasn't well. This was a hospital so sick people were a common sight.

"Oh I remember that" informed Snape "I called myself the Half-Blood Prince. Which school book was it?"

"Advanced Potions" I answered.

Snape looked confused, another expression I'd never seen before, and shook his head.

"That's NEWT level I'm still... I mean was in third year".

So he was about thirteen then mentally but that wasn't stopping him from running a small potions lab. I was rather impressed clearly he had relearned a lot very quickly.

The former potions teacher noticed that I was impressed with his set up and commented upon it.

"The Headmaster got me all of this. He said we were friends. He visits sometimes and buys my potions for the school".

Maybe true talent never really goes away that or Dumbledore really did have a soft spot for Snape. That was something worth testing.

"So you do potions for people who pay?" I inquired.

"Just above cost" he answered "its not like I need the money now but I'm saving up for more equipment for when I get out".

Out?

Ah yes he was a teenager but he could rebuild his life he was only a few years away from being mentally seventeen again and at that point he could start taking care of himself assuming he was recovering as well as he seemed to be. He was doing a lot better than Lockhart that was for sure.

"Done any Everlasting Elixirs?" I questioned.

Most potions either medical in application or not were not permanent in effect for example Drinking one Skele-Gro potion would only regrow a bone once it didn't stay in your body and regrow any bone that was later removed. Another example were love potions which required the victim to be dosed regularly or it wore off. Like what had happen to Voldemort's Muggle Father.

But not Everlasting Elixirs they were potions which never wore off their effects lasted forever, well as long as you lived, and the potions had an equally long shelf life meaning that you could drink them years after they were brewed and they still had a permanent effect. And unlike poisons they couldn't be countered with an antidote which made them all the more valuable.

"Just the Wit Sharpening one" Snape explained after stirring a few brews "there are others but they have some nasty side effects like memory enhancement".

I'd read about that. Memory Enhancing Potion sounded good on paper but it had the bad side of effect making a person unable to forget the bad stuff as well as the good. I would never drink it because then events like watching Luna get bitten by that giant spider would haunt me like the school is haunted by ghosts.

"According to one of my essays I drank one. That was silly of me" added Snape who was now putting something still alive into a bubbling potion.

Must of needed it for his spy work. Details were very important to spies when working.

Then I realised that it would also make any childhood trauma quite unforgettable like say being bullied by James Potter. No wonder Snape hated the guy. It would also make it impossible for his memories of Lily Potter to ever fade away.

Drinking that potion had indeed been silly of him. No wonder he'd lashed out at the living reminder of both those sets of vivid memories. It didn't excuse what he'd done but it did explain it all somewhat.

"I'd like to make a few Wit Sharpening Potions but they are hard to brew could I hire you do it?" I asked of Snape.

Really I would be able to do it myself soon as it would covered this year by Slughorn but I wasn't asking for it just for me and it would be more effective if someone with a real talent for potion making did the work. I was sure that Snape would make a better potion that I could even without most of his memories.

"How many?" asked Snape "its not that complex but I make lots I'll need to clear my workspace which is more work".

He sounded very professional when he said that.

"Let's see" I said while thinking it over

Neville, Luna, Ginny, Susan, Hannah and I made six. Best to get one for Granger that made seven. Maybe the new twins in my life although being cunning little snakes they would likely already have drunk one so no. Potter perhaps? Might as well he might like it if he didn't have to brew it himself.

"Eight by Christmas. Bottled up ready to drunk. Price isn't important I'll have my Elf pop by later today to pick up the bill and to get you anything you need to make the potion".

"Eight by Christmas" Snape repeated "easy".

"Well I want the best" I told the man/teenager "they will be gifts for my friends".

"Still easy" he insisted.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Well we can discuss something more challenging after Christmas" I offered "maybe some Felix Felicis".

I turned to leave calling him Professor Snape as I did. Once I closed the door my eyes showed me the sight of Neville in some state of shock.

"Nev" I said while waving my hand in front of his face "mate what's up?"

"Snape he's nice" replied the youngest Longbottom.

"Yes" I said back "you told me that".

"But he's nice" insisted the Pureblood.

Wow Snape must of really done a number on Neville's psyche. Perhaps wiping Potion's Master mind had been had right thing to do for both of them.

"Come on Neville lets get out of here and find some food" I decided.

Without saying a word Nev followed me only speaking once we left St Mungos which I should have done really as I hadn't be discharged.

"Snape he's nice" repeated Neville in an odd voice.

Even when mind wiped back to his teenage years Snape could still make Neville a mental wreak.

How fucked up was that.


	24. Chapter 24

Douchiesnacks

It wasn't for Lockhart really it was for Damien she admitted as much.

Tylermech66

Oh that's not going to happen Snape is now just a resource for Damien to exploit.

CookieMonsta1233

Well he had his mind wiped and then spent over a year having his mind rebuilt no one could be IC after that. Also don't forget that I mentioned the Memory Enhancement potion Snape no longer has so many bad memories to keep reliving so he's bound to be more happy.

Well maybe my story followers are just lazy but given that insulting people is easier than writing positive and I get very few negative ones so I guess it balances out.

Still as long as people are enjoying my stories I'll keep writing them.

Guest

I don't normally answer guest reviews but your Loving it remark made me smile so thanks.

Hypnosis Writer

Do you mean something like Visual Power Replication like the Amazo robot in DC? That machine mimicked the powers of the Justice League by scanning the heroes and modifying himself.

Spark Gothic could do that since he can alter DNA it would only work for biological based abilities but if he went to say Marvel he could gain god like power just following superheroes around.

Heck maybe I could make a Mutant Gothic and have being able to learn mutant powers and abilities via observation. After spending a few weeks with the X-Men and he'd be talking out villains next before replacing them all as one unstoppable bad guy! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!

(calms down)

Anyway I'm glad you like my Snape idea. I set it up ages ago and kept it a surprise to amuse my readers.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 24.**

**The Hogwarts Express. The Wizarding World. **

With a huff of annoyance I threw the book I'd just been reading back into the expanded bag and heard a thump as it hit the pile.

"There's nothing in these books" I said with frustration "its as if Wizards only think to do a quick fix with a wand or potion and never think about permanently solving problems by enhancing either themselves or with something they can wear ".

Ginny, Luna, Neville and I had spent about half the trip to Hogwarts looking for ways to use magic to make ourselves more powerful be that physically, mentally or magically but there was nothing like that in all the books I owned.

"As I said before" reminded Luna "stuff like ritual magic hasn't been practised in a long time. For the most part enchanted objects are just seen as things to show off to friends or useful tools to make life easier. There are a few useful objects a person can buy like Foe Glasses and Secrecy Sensors but after Voldemort was defeated the demand for there production stopped".

She was right most enchanted items were little more than amusements or tools to make life easier for lazy short sighted fools.

All of the good stuff I already had. Like a Mokeskin Pouch which could only be opened by the owner and a Pensieve which was highly useful but extremely expensive.

There were still some very useful even and powerful ranging from Time Turners to Sneakoscopes but there wasn't anything that offered a power boost to the user of the item. That was the kind of thing that I was looking for.

Stuff like that the really powerful artefacts out there had been made of hundreds of years ago like the ones made by the Hogwarts Founders (one of which my group had and the rest were Horcruxs) or the Deathly Hallows.

Sadly no one could make stuff like that any more the knowledge had been forgotten long ago and it would take a whole time to begin the recovery of such lost arts. So that meant finding the useful artefacts out there.

Of the Hollows I could get the Resurrection Stone without anyone knowing but Potter's cloak was passed down from Father to Son and Dumbledore had the Elder Wand which meant I'd have defeat him in a duel or murder him to get it. Tempting but Voldemort had to die before Dumbledore.

As for the Founder's Artefacts well we had the sword. I'd destroyed Ravenclaw's diadem. I couldn't use the locket as I lacked the power to speak to snakes. And Hufflepuff's cup was locked up in Gringotts.

"A Hand Of Glory sounds useful if a little gruesome" offered Ginny.

"Got one" I replied

I'd brought before the World Cup on a whim but it could be handy as a gift for Necromancer counterpart should I ever end up visiting him. Which wasn't in my plans as of yet but it could happen if I needed something from him.

"Well we could back to that Skyrim place" suggested Neville.

I'd already done that. I'd gone to the The Tower Stone located in Skyrim and acquired the power to open any lock figuring that it could come in handy should I ever be locked up somewhere without a wand.

The problem was that the power only worked in Skyrim. I suspected that the reason behind this was that each of the Standing Stone had a connection to a star constellation none of which existed my world's night sky.

This might be because all magic in Skyrim came form a realm called Aetherius and the stars were direct portals to Aetherius. So while I was cut off from those stars the power granted by the Standing Stone no longer worked for me.

However the spells I'd gained while in Skyrim still worked here on Earth. That might be because spells were just a way of channelling magical energy in order to perform a certain function. It didn't seem to matter where that magical energy came from the spells didn't care any more than an electrical appliance cares if its electricity was generated by a nuclear power station or on a wind farm.

"There are objects there we could make use that in Skyrim" I said to Nev "but Luna could recreate many of them easily enough and ones she couldn't make are tied to those Daedric Princes I warned you about".

That wasn't actually true but I was pretty sure that the Necromancer version of myself would of gotten his hands on most of the artefacts as quickly as possible. I know I would have.

"There are lots of artefacts in the Department Of Mysteries" mentioned Luna "but which ones they have and what they do no one outside the Department knows. They wouldn't tell because their Unspeakables".

No much help really. The study of such objects is years of work and I just didn't have time for that, the war had already started.

"Well if can't find any rituals or artefacts we could try armour" suggested Neville "the Goblins make silver armour that's light and strong".

And expensive as well. I didn't have access to the family vaults of either the Masons or Malfoys yet. I two trust funds and some gold stashed but that was no were near enough to equip all the outcasts with Goblin made stuff. Plus those horrid creatures I had no desire to deal with any more than I had to.

"The only people who even wear magical armour any more are the Dwarves they sell it too" mentioned Neville "but they don't get much business these days because if Wizards only buy weapons and armour so they can display them. Goblin silver is more prized for that".

That made sense. Wizards, even 'light' ones were bigots they just didn't kill people over it but they were also show-offs and so if they did buy something from another race they'd buy Goblin silver or nothing because silver was more expensive.

"Goblins work with silver, bronze and gold" Ginny explain further "only they can mint coins and they make the best jewellery from those metals. You can transfigure something into silver and then sell it but it can be turned back. But Goblin silver can't be transfigured and it doesn't tarnish or even need polishing".

Wizards were lazy so Goblin stuff that didn't require any cleaning or polishing would appeal to them naturally I understood that.

"But Dwarves work with iron mostly" informed Nev "they make it so it doesn't rust. Their iron is lighter as well but it still needs polishing and cleaning".

To me that sounded like they made steel tools and weapons which Wizards didn't use much off because of the expense.

Steel wasn't used that much by Muggles either until the 19th century as it was expensive to until then then but new methods and technology made it very easy to produce steel. But given that Wizards had cut themselves off from Muggles in the 17th century then they might not even realise how easy steel was to make these days.

"Let me guess Muggles were the Dwarves main customers"

Neville nodded.

"My family history books mention some of my ancestors acting as salesmen, well quartermasters really. Gran would never admit that of course but the Longbottoms come from a long like of warrior-wizards who used Dwarf weapons when fighting along side Muggles. That included selling weapons to the side they fought and the recovering them from the dead so they could sell them again. It was highly profitable".

I didn't doubt that for a second. Neville was a warrior at heart it had been buried deep down until I brought it out but there was a reason why the sword had chosen him. He was also good at making money".

"Well that explains why Lockhart was able to employ them for Valentines Day" I said to the group.

"They are a fallen race" concluded Luna "Current Daddy once wrote a story about them. In side their mountain holds there are factories of Dwarves making all our dragonhide gloves for mere knuts a day".

Muggles in poorer parts of the world were exploited in much the same way. Most people don't realise that their clothes are the product of near slave labour.

"Wizards don't do mass-produced" I said thinking out loud "but we all have dragonhide gloves so it makes sense that someone is making them in the numbers we need".

Dragonhide is highly reistant to magic even when not on the dragon so special tools would be required to cut and shape it. If the Dwarves of this world were the craftsmen many works of fiction claimed that they were then they would be well suited to supplying products made from dragonhide.

"So the Goblins get richer everyday and the Dwarves get poorer" I commented "but Goblins are dark creatures even Muggles know that".

"They do?" asked a startled Ginny "but there are laws to stop Muggles from finding out!".

I calmed her down by explaining.

"The Muggles of today think that Goblins are made up but they're used as bad guys in lots of stories even now. You have to remember that the Secrecy Laws have only been in effect for a few hundred years but Muggles have known about Goblins and how evil they are for thousands of years you can't erase that much history completely. The proof that Wizards, Goblins and exist was removed but the stories remain and people told their kids who told their kids and so until only the stories are left".

I then recited a poem I'd heard in an episode of Doctor Who.

"_We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed. Their hungry thirsty roots?" _

I had no idea if that was actually about real Goblins but it sounded good and helped to make my point.

"Most people now think the stories that warn people to avoid Goblins were actually warnings about talking to strangers who might led you astray but now that I think about maybe the Muggles back then did have bad dealings with actual Goblins. Passing on information like that through word of mouth like stories was important before books became common. Muggles call it Oral History".

The group thought about what I'd said and I added some more information for them to ponder over.

"Goblins are always the bad guys in those kind of stories but Dwarves are often portrayed as being noble warriors, craftsmen and to have a strong love of beer".

"Which is true" supported Neville "the only reasons Goblins run the bank is because they got given the right after a nasty Goblin rebellion. That and the Mithril mines ran dry".

Binns had taught us the truth but it had just been in the worse way possible.

"Seems as if The Lord Of Rings got a lot of things right" I muttered.

"That book is actually quite accurate" stated Luna "at least about the different races anyway. There were a lot more Wizards around back then but the Elves did leave around that time".

I sort of stopped for a few moments before asking.

"Wait so Hobbits are real?"

Luna nodded.

"They have a large population in France" she told me "but you won't find any Hobbits in Britain they don't like our food, but there are a few Dwarf holds left in Wales".

Welsh Dwarves. I so had to meet some.

"Mithril exists on other worlds you know" I said to the group "its rare but you can buy Mithril armour the lands south of Skyrim".

Two people in the room went slack jawed Ginny didn't

"Bloody hell" swore Ginny who seemed to be channelling her brother for a moment.

"No one has had any Mithril since Grindlewald and his vest was destroyed in his duel with Dumbledore" said Luna "its one of the reasons why he was so successful its highly reistant to curses its also the one type of armour that can stop the Killing Curse".

"Really?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh yes but only the Elves knew how to make Mithril armour and they're gone now" reminded Luna "The Dwarves could mine and purify the metal but there was some sort of magic they couldn't do involved with forging it into armour".

"But we could get a suit and test it" I pointed out "if Mithril in armour form does block the Killing Curse all we need is a practice dummy. It shouldn't matter if armour isn't covering a living thing if the armour is a barrier. It might not work but its worth trying".

It really was worth a try.

"Hold on a second" I said as I realised something "if Grindlewald was wearing the armour when he was beaten by Dumbledore how it was destroyed when Dumbledore beat him?"

"No one knows" informed Luna "the duel wasn't witnessed and Mithril blocks direct attacks but we know Dumbledore won because he locked Grindlewald in his own prison".

Dumbledore must have it. He could easily hide it under all the robes he wore. Heck he could have a layer of Mithril covering everything but his hands and head, he was always covered up from the neck to his feet.

"Well we could ask Grindlewald" I suggested.

"He's got to be dead by now" insisted Neville.

"No he's still in the same place he has been since 1945" I assured my friends.

I stopped talking to think things over. Dumbledore had beaten his former love interest despite the fact that Gellert had both the Elder Wand and a Mithril vest.

The Elder Wand was suppose to be unbeatable in battle and the vest (or possible even full set of armour) protected from direct attacks. So perhaps Dumbledore slipped the last Dark Lord a potion or had surprise on his side. They were old friends after all Dumbledore could of gotten Gellert's guard down.

Grindlewald might tell me it depended on which version he was the book version wouldn't tell me but the film version would in a heartbeat.

My thoughts went back to Mithril and I wondered if the metal was actually magically enchanted platinum. Goblins could make really good armour and weapons from silver and platinum was even tougher than silver. So was this Mithril actually platinum given the same treatment as Goblin crafted silver?

Platinum was much heavier than silver but Mithril wasn't heavy when worn as armour as Frodo wore it easily. However reducing the weight of something is easy with magic. My expanded bag for example doesn't seem to weight much at all despite being full of books. Platinum is also rarer than gold which is even rarer than silver. Gold isn't used by Goblins much aside from minting coins due the limited supply. Gold doesn't make for good armour and weapons as its rather soft for a metal.

Silver is a bit better but platinum is much denser so its also tougher. If the same sort of enchantments were added to platinum as they were to Goblin silver you could get Mithril something so tough that even the Killing Curse could be stopped in its tracks.

Physical barriers do stop the Killing Curse but such barriers can explode if hit by a powerful Killing Curse but if a material was strong enough to stay intact when hit by the curse it could protect you.

If the process to make normal silver into Goblin silver were similar to making platinum into Mithril then it should be possible to get the Dwarves to make it. Wizards had no chance they couldn't even produce steel but Dwarves who could produce steel so they would stand a much chance a chance made better if their knowledge of Mithril had survived.

Goblins controlled their magical silver due to a law but the actually method of altering the metal should be known to people but they would lack the skills needed to use such knowledge the Dwarves should be able to. But they couldn't due to the law.

Mithril was rare in Skyrim if there was any at all but it was more common in Cyrodill that might explain how the Imperials kept conquering everyone they had access to platinum which was worth more than gold and whoever can better fund their army will win an otherwise even war.

So I needed platinum a lot of it (which would be pricey but not impossible to acquire. The secrets of Goblin silver. And Dwarves willing to work.

At least the last requirement would be easy to sort out if they would work for Knuts a day and I gave them something better than gold they'd work for me.

My trail of thought ended as Granger opened the door and asked for me.

"Damien can we talk?".

"Leave us" I said using a commanding tone of voice that seemed to allow my powers of leadership to influence people.

Doing as they were told the Outcasts who piled out without a word they were getting used to following my orders rather than just going along with my ideas.

This change in attitude was because I was now more than the groups leader I would be their future Dark Lord and they would start acting like that from now.

I'd brought these changes about after leaving Saint Mungo's due to Luna's corruption by the Daedric Prince. After explaining the dangers of what we were dealing with. I'd told the group that if they wanted to keep working with me then they would have to obey me for their own protection like minions of a Dark Lord should.

But informally when alone they could express their opinions and discuss their concerns freely. Only when dealing with the outsiders and the danger they brought did we need me to act like a tyrant.

Granger seemed a little put off by that display as even the Snakes didn't act like that around they're leaders while at school but the Outcasts were different.

"Sit down" I told Granger using my commanding voice again.

It worked and she sat down as if I was somehow compelling her to.

"Drink" I offered.

She only nodded in reply.

As I took out the cast iron kettle I used to make tea and heated it up while pouring milk into tea cups I thought about how my power of enhanced charisma was growing. I seemed to be getting more charismatic and even more persuasive by the day.

I could so easily get other people to do my bidding as long it didn't involve them doing things their morals and beliefs wouldn't allow. This meant that I couldn't get Granger to say perform a striptease for me as easily as I could make her sit down and drink tea with me, but over time I could get to a point were a person would support me as I became a Dark Lord.

Perhaps one day soon it would get to the point were someone would even kill at my command. It was just a matter of getting them to spend time with me and my charismatic power would change them until they agreed with everything I said and did as they were told.

It was however possible to resist the effects of my power if a person had enough strength of will. This is why Dumbledore would never be swayed by my words nor would Potter ever became a true follower of mine as long as followed the Headmaster's path.

The power didn't make you immune to other Wizard's Charismatic Power otherwise Potter wouldn't be led around by Dumbledore but if one became aware of it that made it easier to resist which was why I wasn't a Dumbledore supporter.

Also since they had this power they could undo my work if they were willing to put time and effort into it but they never would as the Outcasts went unnoticed by Dumbledore who favoured his attentions on those he felt would of use to him.

As for Potter well if he started the DA that could cause problems but since I taught magic to the Outcasts they had no need to join such a group.

Voldemort could do this too it was less effective as he became less human but they then fear kept his minions in line far more strong leadership did.

This was because Enhanced Charisma relied on appearances. I wasn't Cedric Diggory level of handsome but I looked like a human being rather than a snake man creature. Before becoming a monster on the outside as well as the inside Riddle had been able to charm everyone but Dumbledore just like I could and we even looked a little alike so appearances did matter.

The Kettle boiled and I poured the tea while asking.

"So what would you like to talk about Hermione?"

Her answer was no surprise.

"What you said about Dumbledore. I've been thinking about it and well it started to make sense a lot things don't add up. But I can't figure out why. Do you know?"

"Do you know what utilitarianism is?" I asked.

"So no quid pro quo today then" she joked weakly due to no being in a happy mood.

I smiled and said.

"Answering my question will allow me to answer yours" I explained "besides you owe me a freebie".

Now she was smiling back.

"No I don't know utilitarianism is, but it doesn't sound like anything to do with Wizards".

I gave her a look of approval.

"Your right there its not. Utilitarianism is a Victorian Muggle idea and when we last spoke we both agreed that this society seemed to stuck in that age in many ways, so it stands to reason that an out of date Victorian idea could still be thought of as valid here".

She seemed to be keeping up so far.

"Someone who believes in Utilitarianism believes that the moral choice

is the choice that ensures the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. While that sounds good in theory that means that a choice that makes a lot of people very happy at the expense of making one person very unhappy is the moral choice to make".

Granger was not called the brightest witch of her age for nothing she figured out what I was getting at very quickly.

"So the reason Dumbledore is letting Harry suffer is because it makes other people happy"

I felt clarification was needed.

"Yes Harry suffering ensures other people don't suffer. That utilitarianism in action".

I hadn't quite convinced her yet so I kept going.

"Think about Harry and the Muggles he lived with. Now from what I've found out Blood Wards protected Harry while he lived with his Aunt and Uncle which kept him safe from any remaining Death Eaters. So to Dumbledore the abuse Harry suffered is acceptable because it keeps Harry alive. Harry needs to live in order to beat Voldemort like he did when the Dark Lord went for the Stone. Harry beating Voldemort ensured the most happiness for most people as it prevented Voldemort from returning".

She understood now and was horrified

"So Dumbledore is evil!".

I snorted and said.

"Evil is a point of view Granger. Voldemort is evil because everyone views him as evil that's justified because of the things he has done. Dumbledore is seen as good because that's how he is viewed by most people. Do you think Voldemort sees himself as evil?"

Truthfully Voldemort didn't think good or evil even existed. For him it was all about power and living forever. I doubted that he even really cared for Blood Purity at this point. Perhaps once he had as people often hate others for seeing in others what they hate about themselves.

Maybe that was I hated Dumbledore so much he did things I hated myself sometimes for doing.

"Look my point is that Dumbledore has a moral stance that allows him to let Potter suffer for the Greater Good. To you and me that sounds like an poor excuse but when Dumbledore was growing up utilitarianism was quite popular. Our morals and world views are shaped by the people we grow up with Dumbledore grew up in a time when utilitarianism was enjoying it hight. If everyone followed utilitarianism we'd all agree that Dumbledore is right and many Wizards do but you and I are the product a very different society so were seeing this from an outsiders perspective".

Of course this was just my theory it made sense to me but unless I time travelled I'd never know for sure but I felt that it was right. Grindlewald's Greater Good was utilitarian thinking and that Dark Lord had heavily influenced Dumbledore so my theory did have some merit to it.

Granger sighed and said.

"I wish you'd explained it that way when I visited you".

"Well its hard to think in big words when a girl is flirting with you" I pointed out "besides you needed to be shocked enough to take me seriously".

She nodded before saying.

"But its not just Dumbledore all the Purebloods are either stuck in the past or evil".

A simple but not inaccurate way of looking at it.

"Sorry Granger but nothing short of rebellion leading to a change in leadership will make things better. Maybe your situation will improved over time if Harry beats Voldemort and the current leadership is swept away in the coming war but even then things might just become bearable. Your only options other than Harry saving you are going Muggle, joining a rebellion or making a magic door to another world were you forge your own destiny".

She saw my last suggestion as a joke but one day I might actually give her that option.

"A rebellion doesn't sound so bad if your starting on" she remarked "but we'd need a Luke Skywalker"

"I paint a sword green and practice my wandless magic" I kidded.

"Should I get myself a gold bikini this summer?" she teased.

Now that was a nice image but jokes aside I had important things to ask.

"If I did led a rebellion to overthrow the Purebloods or at least force them to treat Muggleborns better would you follow me?".

Her answer would decide if she ended up with a quick memory wipe or if she would join the Outcasts but she wasn't quite ready to decide.

"It wouldn't be easy" I told the teen "we would be fighting an evil empire yes but it might require you to fight and maybe even hurt people who aren't evil".

Her answer was honest if incomplete.

"I support Harry I owe him that much"

"Harry isn't my enemy" I assured her "he's one of the people I want to protect.

A little more was needed

"I want to make a world were you don't to have to marry your second or third cousin in order to keep your parents approval. I want to make a world were a bright witch like yourself could be Minister Of Magic one day. But most of all I want to make a world were a teenage boy doesn't have to fight a Dark Lord to protect people who should be able to take of themselves!".

For a second I wondered if I went to far but no I'd gone just far enough.

"If it helps Harry I'm in" was the answer I got "I'll be a rebel".

My power of Enhanced Charisma worked its wonders yet again. It hadn't turned her into my minion or even made her that loyal to me but it had won her over to my cause just enough that over time she would become another member of the Outcasts if only to protect her friend.

"We call ourselves the Outcasts" I told Granger letting her in one of many secrets I would share with her over time "we all have amulets but the one I gave you isn't enchanted".

I handed her a real one as I had a few spare now that Luna could copy the enhancements.

"It shields the mind from Dumbledore he reads people's surface thoughts all the time".

Had I said that a few days ago she wouldn't of believed me but she knew differently now and I had enough of her trust that she put the fox head amulet on without question.

"Can you get more of these?" she requested "Harry should...".

I stopped her.

"No that's a bad idea" I insisted "the Headmaster reads Potter's mind all the time in order to better control him, but he if he can't read yours he won't care as much. Try to avoid eye contact with Dumbledore as much as possible but otherwise act normal. Harry's loyal to Dumbledore as is Ron's entire family so don't tell anyone about this. I'm asking you to lie to a friend but as you said the other day 'what people don't know won't kill them' but knowing about this could".

It was getting dark outside now which meant soon we'd be at the school.

"You'd best get going" I told the teen.

"Answer me one last question" she requested "and I need an answer for this".

I nodded and she asked.

"If Dumbledore is a bad person even it is just from our point of view then why would a light magic creature like a Phoenix serve him".

Good question and I had a good answer.

"You assume that a Phoenix is a light magic creature. But I'll give you a better answer if you again answer a question from me. Did you know that Harry's wand shares a core with Voldemort's?".

"Yes he told me once its a feather from Dumbledore's phoenix "

"Remember the wand chooses the Wizard. So here's a question that you don't need to answer. Why would a wand with a core from a supposed light magic creature chose a Wizard like Voldemort to wield it?".

I wondered if anyone had ever asked that question. Riddle was evil before he ever got a wand so it made no sense that the core of light magic creature would be suitable for him. Unicorn tail hair cores made it very hard to use Dark Magic and Unicorns were light magic creatures so why would the core supplied by another light magic creature not only allow the user to easily use the Dark Arts but actually chose to used in such a way.

"But Harry's wand the same core" countered Granger rather weakly.

"So what" I replied "That could just mean that Fawkes is neither good or evil. Maybe Fawkes serves Dumbledore for another reason".

It could have something to do with Harry needing to have the wand that was brother to Voldemort's perhaps fate demanded it but still something about that answer felt wrong.

Granger got up to leave but before she closed the door she asked a question she wouldn't get an good answer for.

"Do you know why Harry has the same core in this wand as Voldemort?"

All I said was.

"Yes" And then I closed the door.


	25. Chapter 25

Author Note: This chapter is a bit shorter than recent ones but it's most filler.

Hypnosis Writer

I'll add Mutant Gothic to the pile.

War Sage

Thank you.

Mattblue

And updates you shall have.

tylermech66

If Goblins can turn silver and jewels into a sword that actually makes for a decent weapon then platinum should be even better. Its even rarer than gold and harder to mine so the Dwarves would never of found a great amount but Muggles would because they, well we, have the numbers and technology to find it.

Stuff like ebony and that Orc metal in Skyrim has no real world counterpart that worked for my story but platinum worked.

Douchiesnacks

Well I really do like harems.

Limited harems are better girls tend to get mad when you get their names mixed up because you can't remember which of you hundred odd concubines is called Shelia.

Guest

I like the Harry Potter stories that stick to cannon to start with and then go a new direction as you can see the causes of the changes as the story progresses. I derailed things from the start by destroying Tom Riddles diary but it all seems to have made sense and some cannon things are still happing if a bit differently but it seems to be working.

Justice League well Overlord Gothic did fight them but the real enemy in that story was The First Evil so having a Justice League story should be okay but I'd need you come up with some ideas like what kind of hero he could be what powers he could have.

The Gothic's can be quite ruthless when dealing with bad guys so one idea could be that he goes rogue like Huntress and maybe teams up with her. That's the kind of ideas I want pitched at me if you want that story.

Lootryx

There might not be a Ministry in America as that country didn't exist until 1776. Given that the International Statute Of Secrecy came into effect in 1692 there wasn't an United States to sign it so it might not have a Ministry at all.

However there is a Ministry of Magic for Brazil which was (like America) a colony of a European kingdom at the time so its possible that American created a Ministry at some point like Brazil must have but there's no cannon reference to it.

Also given that Damien can explore other worlds there would no reason for him to explore the rest of the Wizarding World.

He will however being going to Europe to visit a certain former Dark Lord.

A W

Its not the metal alone that matters its what magic does to it. Goblins can turn silver into armour and weapons. Godric's sword is Goblin Silver and it absorbs Basilisk venom a substance used to destroy Horcruxs. So if Goblin magic can make silver do that then what could it do to platinum?

My answer is mithril which is magically enhanced platinum.

Silver is less durable than platinum. Platinum like gold doesn't tarnish but its also slightly harder than iron were as gold and silver are not.

Iridium would be ever better than platinum but its the wrong colour to be mithril.

I'll explain about the daedric armour. The Killing Curse only made the daedra return to Oblivion. When a summoned Daedra is 'killed' it reforms back in Oblivion that's the rule. The Killing Curse sent it back to Oblivion but that Daedra wasn't killed.

Had the demon been unbound the Killing Curse would of merely knocked the Daedra down like any powerful spell would have. Then the Daedra would simple get up and kept fighting.

Your right about the ebony that metal would be even better but that has no counterpart (as far as I can see) with metals on Earth which Damien can buy from Muggles using the gold he has in surplus.

He could just buy ebony bars in Skyrim and give some to the Dwarves but that will happen later as he's not even met a Dwarf yet.

Perhaps he could also order some Daedric Armour made for him from a Black Smith in Skyrim but he would go with Dwarf made mithril more likely because it as we saw last chapter it would really impress people. Wizards ,even Damien, like to show off.

Plus there is the fact making mithril (even if its just for jewellery) would make lives better for the Dwarves and they'd owe Damien for that giving him allies. Later other metals could be added but it would be best to start off with something the Dwarves actually know something about.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 25.**

**Hogwarts School. Ravenclaw Tower. Damien's Bedroom. **

I hadn't notice until Luna and I had sat down at the Ravenclaw table for the start of feast that my school house was missing a few members as were the all of the other houses.

The Carrow twins had warned me that this was going to happen and that it would form a power vacuum but I'd dismissed most of what they had said as I didn't trust anyone who wore green around here, but perhaps I should have as there were lots of ways of could take advanatge of this situation.

But that wasn't of much concern right now what was concerning me was that my dorm room was now a private room.

I'd never gotten to know my bunkmates because Ravenclaw, the boys at least, aren't that sociable with those they share a dorm with. Privacy charms and polite exchanges as we went to bed were routine here. But now that they were gone I kind of missed them.

The school's House Elves had removed the other beds and added more book shelves, which was nice of them, and I didn't mind the extra space and alone time, but it was all kinds of unsettling.

"Well this is nice" commented Luna as she entered the dorm room for the fourth year Ravenclaw boys.

Which was just me.

"How did you manage this?" my future wife inquired.

She might of foreseen that I'd end up alone in this room, that was highly likely since she was here to come see it, but that didn't mean she knew how it happened.

Rather than answer right away I cast all the privacy charms I knew in case I was being spied upon by Dumbledore. He had during the feast rather loudly said that my apology to him was accepted, and some other words which basically meant that he was thought I was showing great maturity by realising my mistakes. But this was Dumbledore so I didn't trust anything he said.

"I'm not sure how this happened" I told my girlfriend who was currently checking out the bookcases for anything she hadn't read "Our house is the smallest one and our year isn't that big either but what are the chances that every other boy in my year and house would drop out".

That hadn't been a question but she answered it anyway.

"They didn't drop out they're dead".

I didn't need to ask she explained her statement without any prompting.

"A lot of people died at the World Cup. Children died whole families died. Everyone knows everyone in our world so you did lose people you knew in that attack. Its the only answer that makes sense".

No wonder Fudge was being pressured to give the Kiss to all the captured Death Eaters.

Any guilt I had felt for supporting that action was now gone. If this was as bad this war was going to be I wasn't going to spare a Mort Muncher ever again.

"Its not as bad for the girls" informed Luna "it was mostly boys at the World Cup Final but that just means they have a lot of grief to work through".

I had noticed that the males had outnumbered the females at that event about five to one and after thinking about the girl to boy ratio at the school had shifted to favour the girls. It hadn't been that noticeable at the time as everyone wore full school uniform including the hats at the start of year feast but now, well the empty room spoke for itself.

"That many people really died" I muttered to myself.

Before I knew what was happening Luna and I were on my bed in each others arms.

"It would have been worse if not for you" she assured me.

I wasn't so sure about that. Had I never come to this world the Death Eaters would of marched but they wouldn't have come to slaughter. Then again this was alternate world so maybe things would actually be worse if I hadn't been acting to protect people.

"I knew who they were" I said mostly to myself "I know the name of nearly every Death Eater. I could of wiped them out by now if I'd really tried".

Well maybe not but I could of gone after them instead of going to Skyrim. Over the summer I could of hunted each and everyone of them down like the beasts that they are by torturing the needed names and places out of the ones I knew about until there were no more left.

No I was being silly that course of action would of resulted in my demise at worse and at best I would have been driving off this world via the Veil Of Death. I'd gotten lucky in the Forbidden Forest as for the World Cup well there I'd had time to prepare and a weapon the enemy couldn't counter.

Still all this death.

I wanted to cry about it but no tears would come because I wasn't really sad about it. Anger filled me and hate along with it.

Before I could express these feelings Luna kissed me and her eyes seemed to offer a message of assurance stronger that mere words could express but she offered those words anyway.

"The past can not be changed. You can only learn from it and try not to make the same mistakes next time. Become the Dark One, as you were meant to and stop such things from ever happening again".

Words spoken by another Dark Lord came to me

'Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy'.

Words for a Dark Lord to live by.

I sat up and held Luna in one arm while thinking out loud.

"This world does need a good rebellion. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt. I'm not ready to do that yet but that's okay we have time. Most of Death Eaters are either dead or worse. Voldemort isn't making any moves himself so he's not fully back yet so its going to take time for him to fully restore himself to power".

The fact that Luna couldn't see how a restored Voldemort would return to power meant that the method wasn't certain yet nor was it that close to happening.

If Riddle still wanted to capture Harry Potter to use his blood for the ritual then the Boy-Who-Lived would find himself taking part in the Triwizard Tournament. If not then I didn't have a clue what was going to happen and while that worried me it really just meant that I would have to adapt my plans as required.

"So is Hermione going to join your harem?" inquired the blonde teen lying on my bed.

"I can't see Granger joining a harem she's to strong willed to be manipulated into that, at least by me. Well not unless I really work at it".

It was possible but if I wanted Granger to do something that her morals wouldn't normally allow her to do then I needed more influence over her. Getting her to work for me as agent hadn't be to hard to accomplish because I'd convinced her that it would help to protect The-Boy-Who-Lived. Granger was loyal to Potter and I'd used that to get her partly under my control but there were limits to this control.

"You need to deal with Ronald" reminded Luna "as long as he's around you'll never really have Hermione as your own or any influence over Harry Potter".

As much as I found He-Who-Chews-With-His-Mouth-Open to be an insufferable lout killing him was a bit extreme if only because it would upset Ginny who I actually cared about.

Using the Staff Of Magnus to strip him of his magical powers would be slightly better.

I also had the amusing idea of putting Ron's name into the Goblet Of Fire. The age line shouldn't stop me as I was over seventeen.

In my view it was doubtful that the age line detected the age of the body because if that was so then ageing potion should fool it. Therefore it must be able to detect a person's true age regardless of how old the body they were in was. If so the age line shouldn't stop me.

And even if it did I could just levitate the piece of paper with Ron's name on it across the age line. Since my body wouldn't be crossing the line it should work fine. Heck you could use a fishing line to put a name in the Goblet Of Fire as that wouldn't require you to cross the line either.

Really anyone with an ounce of logic could get their name into the Goblet of Fire.

But there was no way the Goblet would chose the Ginger prat as the school's champion but then I could practice my confundus charm.

No that was a nice idea but the Weasel might just get himself killed or worse get other people killed.

Squip it was then.

"We can kidnap him and strip his magic tomorrow" I told Luna "if it works as you foresaw then we can get Ginny to slide into her brother's place. She doesn't know what the Staff can do nor will she ever find out. The Headmaster will no doubt investigate but the Tournament will distract him. If Ginny succeeds in replacing Ronald as Harry's best friend then Dumbledore won't be to concern her family is know to be loyal to him after all".

And if they should form a romantic bound then that was fine with.

Luna looked me in eye and said.

"Either plan would work my lord" assured Luna "and Ronald's death would make Ginny very sad so making him powerless is a better option. Better his memories are wiped and he is sent to living in the Muggle World than a dead brother".

My lord. That still sounded a little silly to hear but I'd get use to it.

"Of course it will work" I said with a smirk "I'm the Dark Lord".

I hadn't come up with my Dark Lord name yet but it would come to me. Once I started acting the part I'd learn the character's name.

"Well if Hermione isn't going to be in your harem then the Carrow twins will have to have your babies and quickly to".

There's a reason why I don't drink or eat anything when alone with Luna.

"Babies!"

"You need to have children as quickly as possible because using the Dark Arts can cause sterility and there's a Pureblood ideal that your children get their magic from their parents directly so the more children you have the weaker you get and that any child after the first will be weak as well".

That actually made sense to me as Dark Magic is about death not life but the second thing made no sense.

"Its silly because Ginny is more talented than Ronald but she's a seventh child so that might explain it" said Luna

Actually I doubted Ron was that magically weak he was just lazy. His twins brothers were quite talented and they worked on it so any lack of power in Ron's case was his own fault.

"But most Wizards don't seem to be very fertile even if they aren't Dark Arts users".

I wondered if there was a reason for that. Luna's Mum and Dad might have had one child because they thought they had time to have more or could it because of the weed.

As for the issue of kids well I didn't actually want any but I might lose the option if I didn't do it soon and the whole birth rate issue did worry me Hogwarts should have a lot more students in that it did. So maybe having lots of children was a good idea.

The Carrow twins might be up for that (as they were willing to obey me in exchange for power and protection) but I wouldn't be able to marry either of them. The only Wizard born out of wedlock I knew about was Voldemort which wasn't a ringing endorsement for the idea.

"Hey what about Muggles" I said to Luna "Half bloods with one Muggle parent are pretty common maybe I could impregnate some Muggle women".

"How women do you want to have sex with?" inquired my girlfriend.

I wasn't planning to have sex with them at all.

After explaining about sperm banks to the teenage witch I reminded her that while food and drink (which were organic just like semen) couldn't just be created they could be increased in volume with magic.

You could keep refilling a half drunk bottle of booze that way which was made from organic things. Hops and barley in beer and grapes in wine so if the same could be done with semen I could donate quite a lot of sperm and then donate it banks. I could end up siring a lot of Half-Bloods who eleven years later would be filling up Hogwarts. Even I couldn't go with that plan well a guy can jack off a lot at my age. Then I could go around placing my samples in banks easily done.

Luna looked at me as if I'd gone mad which given her mental state meant that I was really must of sounded crazy.

Then it hit me. My idea would actually make things worse. None of the Half-Bloods would know that they were related so they could end up marrying and then having kids with each other which worse than what was driving the Purebloods to their doom.

"Sorry guess I'm going a little crazy" I explained to the love of my life "it happens to Dark Lords sooner or later I'm just getting it over and done with early on".

That had meant to be partly a joke but it didn't sound like one.

It was no surprise to me that I was acting a bit odd it had been a long day one were I had possibly found a way to beat the Killing Curse and then gotten the Outcasts another member. Add to that I had just spent sometime recovering in St. Mungos it was quite understandable that I was acting a bit strange.

Perhaps because she sensed that I needed to relax or because she was becoming more affectionate Luna decided to slip her hand inside my boxers and start jerking me off while kissing me.

It was nice but she awful at it so I showed her a better way, a way that could actually get to me cum some time before breakfast.

Normally I wouldn't encourage my future wife to do anything sexual but handjobs were pretty harmless compared to what teenagers could get up to.

Once she got a good pace going I started to relax and simply enjoy myself letting my mind stop thinking so much which was something it normally only did when I was sleeping.

**Riddle House. Little Hangleton. The Muggle World.**

Far south of Hogwarts down in England another Dark Wizard was spending time alone with a Witch only they weren't having as much fun.

Mostly this was because Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort lacked a proper body and he was gay so Bellatrix really didn't do anything for him anyway.

"My lord I have found the boy" declared Bellatrix "he is at Hogwarts

If Voldemort could of face-palmed right now he could of but his small deformed body didn't quite have the strength he could only just about raise his wand.

"Of course the boy is at Hogwarts Bella, where else would be?".

Bellatrix's messed up mind took a moment to figure out why her master would say such a thing but she got there in the end.

"I do not mean the Potter brat my lord. I meant Mason".

Voldemort was now starting to wonder if breaking Bellatrix out of prison had been worth it but then he remembered that he had indeed been looking for a different boy.

"You refer to the boy who prevented my return to power in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Indeed I do my lord" agreed Bellatrix "his name is Damien Mason and he a student at the school".

Well the second part had been rather obvious really but Voldemort had never known this child's name until now.

"Mason I know the name" muttered the diminished Dark Lord.

"An old Pureblood family but a small one" informed Bella.

Yes Riddle remembered them now. A very wealthy but minor Pureblood family which had some political power but mostly the Masons had always kept to themselves. A few of them had been inventors of some note but there was much else worth noting.

Still of it weren't for the fact that this Damien had killed a few of the Dark Lord's minions and prevented Lord Voldemort's return then Riddle would be thinking of recruiting this boy.

But the again perhaps he could be of use.

_If he is an enemy then his blood could be used to return me to power_ was Voldemort's next thought _Potter will be better protected then ever after the World Cup and with no agent in the school there is no way of bringing __Potter to me but this Mason is more vulnerable. It would be fitting to use the person who prevented my return last time as a tool for the next attempt. _

That was one of the reasons why Riddle had wanted to use Potter's blood in the first place, well that it would of bypassed some of the protection the boy enjoyed, but this Mason seemed powerful enough and after he was restored he could punish Damien Mason in person for delaying the return of Lord Voldemort.

"Bella my dear who at Hogwarts would do my bidding".

The female Death Eater gave it some thought.

"There are not many true Purebloods left at that horrid school. As you know my lord my own nephew was killed there during his second year and the sons of Crabbe and Goyle were unfairly expelled".

Well they'd actually been expelled due to a combination of failing their exams and bad behaviour that Snape was no longer around to cover up for.

"However my lord Nott's boy returned to the school even after his father's death at the World Cup along with Gibbon".

The Death Eaters had taken a lot of hits recently. Bellatrix was the only inner circle member still alive and not soulless. Hence why Voldemort did already have someone in the school to do this sort of work for him.

"And could Notts' heir be of use to us?" inquired Voldemort. "is he seventeen?"

"Not yet my lord" replied Bella

Voldemort mentally cursed.

If he had an adult agent in Hogwarts that would of made things easier. The plan to get to Potter using the Triwizard Tournament didn't look like it was going to happen at this rate.

"According to what Nott told me his son his intelligent but a loner by nature, but perhaps a chance to avenge his father might bring out the proper Pureblood within him" suggested Bella.

Given that they were bigoted inbred morons with more money than sense being a proper Pureblood just made you easier to manipulate in Voldemort's view. Offering this kid the chance for revenge should be enough to make him an agent of the Dark Lord.

"Get a message to this young Nott" instructed Voldemort "tell him that I want his classmate Damien Mason brought here to me. He is to try recruiting Mason first after all our ranks do need refilling and the Mason boy could of be use, assuming his mind remains intact".

Skilled Wizards were hard to find these days. Perhaps moulding a youth into a suitable minion would be worth the time mused Voldemort.

"Should Mason refuse my offer then he is still to be brought to me alive".

Getting out of Hogwarts was a lot easier than getting in so if this child Nott was as bright as his father boasted then perhaps he could manage a kidnapping.

"If he can not find a way to get Mason to me then Nott must find a way to get you to Mason".

Bellatrixed bowed and then ran off to do her master's bidding. Voldemort went back to plotting about Potter who was still in main target for the Dark Lord along with Dumbledore who Tom Riddle really wanted dead above all others.


	26. Chapter 26

**Reviews **

**Guest**

Sluttish Hermione Granger in a harem. That does sound fun but she'd need a strong motivation to do such a thing. I don't think knowledge would be enough. To protect Harry Potter maybe but since I'm not putting him in the Triwizard Tournament it might be a while until she offers herself to Damien for such a trade. Still I could alter the story a bit to ensure that it happens.

**A W **

That's a great idea. Help Nott get Potter into the Tournament and then arrange an accident so that Nott dies but Voldemort won't do anything about that if Potter is the Tournament as he'll be to busy trying to salvage his plan to care about the likes of Nott.

As a bonus Harry in danger would give Hermione a motivation to serve Damien as he can ensure Potter's protection.

**tylermech66**

Yes well done, but who are these gods of the interweb of which you speak?

**Z2010Deadmeat**

I've lost all interest in Hero Gothic I might get back to it one day but don't get your hopes up.

All the Gothics together that would either turn into a complete bloodbath with one Gothic left standing or create a force that could conquer all realities causing many. many bloodbaths as the multi-verse itself comes crashing down around us all.

As for Minecraft Gothic well I don't think so I never really got into Minecraft.

**Lord Edric**

Damien isn't interested in working with metals he's a Dark Wizard not a blacksmith. Plus if he did bring in more magical metals that could upset the economics of the Wizarding World which he doesn't want to do to much as its the value of gold that makes him rich. If he brings to much of an even rarer metal than could devalue gold or maybe not it could just cause the creation of new coins I suppose. I'll have to think about it.

That said it small amounts it might not do that much harm as if Damien controls that supply it would give him more power over people

**douchiesnacks**

No it won't be funny. Well not until Nott is no longer needed.

**war sage**

Yes she will be in the harem but not just yet. Damien needs to romance her a bit before he wins her loyalty.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 26.**

**Hogwarts School. The Great Hall. The Wizarding World.**

Theodore Nott smiled as I agreed to aid him in getting Harry Potter to take part in the Triwizard Tournament.

In my view he was nothing but a fool and I looked forward to the day he would die at my hands. The only reason he was still breathing now was because he wasn't yet a true Death Eater. Had he been his body would be in possession of my Necromancer counterpart along with the Hand Of Glory I'd gotten him as a gift.

"The Dark Lord will surely reward us well if Potter is forced to participate in the Tournament," Nott was saying as we walked into the Great Hall.

Carefully I directed the future Death Eater over to a quieter part of the Hall. There wasn't much chance of us being overheard due to everyone's attention on the Goblet of Fire but I saw no reason to take risks.

"I'm sure he will," was my reply "but first we must do as he Dark Lord commands".

"How do you intend to get Potter's name into the Goblet Of Fire?" asked Nott.

It would be rather easy to get the name in the tricky part would be the confundus charm, which was needed to ensure that Potter name would come out of the Goblet.

I'd practised using Neville's name so I was sure I could do it but it could go wrong as the charm was a tricky bit of magic to pull off.

"Go find a seat and you will see" I assured the Pureblood inbred.

I was about to walk away but Nott pulled me back.

"The Dark Lord is still very eager to met you" reminded Nott.

Yeah I bet he was but I had no intention of going anywhere near Riddle until the time was right. Voldemort would die after Harry got into the Tournament not a moment before.

This way Granger would feel a strong enough motivation to come to me for help and she would pay the price for that help. Once that happened I'd remove the danger to Potter and ensure that Voldemort would bother no one ever again.

"I'm sure he is," I said to Nott "but there is no point me meeting him until after Potter is assured a place in the Tournament. If I fail then I'm sure our Master will be able to come up with a new plan".

More likely he'd kill me for my failure which was why it was important that I got Potter into the Tournament. If I managed it Voldemort would not suspect that I was his enemy and that would give me the chance to strike.

"Now watch, but don't get involved" I ordered Nott.

Without another word I walked away while looking at the new ring on my finger. It was so hard to believe that the jewel on this ring was one of the Deathly Hollows.

Tizzy, my House Elf, had easily recovered the Ring as Riddle had not defended this Horcrux nearly as well as he had the Locket. The most potent defence the Ring had been given was the curse upon it along with a compulsion charm that would try to force whoever found the Horcrux to wear it and fall victim to the curse upon the ring.

A strong willed person could ignore such compulsions as could a House Elf who had been ordered by their master not to put the Ring on. Dumbledore had, or would have, failed to resist because he'd wanted to contact his dead sister but all my family were alive so there was no reason for me to use the Stone and therefore no reason to wear the Ring Horcrux.

Neville had destroyed the Ring Horcrux with his Basilisk venom imbued sword, which had made the Hollow safe to use. I'd lied and told Neville that the jewel was just some silly decoration that Voldemort must of added to make his horcrux fancier and that I was going to keep it as a trophy for finding the Horcrux while he got the honour of destroying it as my of thanking him for his loyalty. Neville being the trusting sort took me at my word.

Luna had been trickier to deal with she had a reason to want to use the Stone so letting her see the Ring Horcrux would have been like aiding her to commit suicide, the compulsion charm wouldn't have even been needed.

But I couldn't use the Ring even if I had wanted to as summoning the dead is Necromancy, something my reward didn't allow me to do, but Luna could and she was now allowed to speak to her mother twice a year.

This arrangement worked rather well as while being pulled to the world of the living was unpleasant for the dead if it was done only a couple of times a year it was more like a quick holiday than disturbing the natural order of things. Something the dead were resentful off.

Since I couldn't use the Stone for any form of Necromancy, which was all the Stone was good for, it was safe with me and while The Resurrection Stone didn't seem to have any other powers but it was suggested in books that even having one Hallow boosted a Wizard's powers.

Also if I did get the Elder Wand as planned some of the books on this subject said that the Hallows boost the power of each other meaning that having The Resurrection Stone would increase the power of the Elder Wand, which I planned to take from Dumbledore once I was seventeen and free to become the next Dark Lord.

My feet had taken me to a seat and I was just about to put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire when Hermione Granger moved down a few benches so she could sit with me.

Her doing this didn't surprise me as ever since I had turned Ron Weasly into a squib she'd started to seek out my company more and more often.

One would of thought that Potter would of gotten closer to Granger once Ron was out of the way but it wasn't so. With the Ginger Prat out of the way Harry had gotten other friends and was now rather popular.

Ginny had moved in to replace her brother (at my suggestion) rather smoothly while Neville had offered Harry male companionship without needing any prompting from me. And since neither Neville or Ginny were as off-putting as Weasly had been other people had started to gravitate towards Potter forming a large group of not so much friends but more like small groups of friends forming a large social clique made up of all Gryffindor's 'cool' kids.

Hermione unfortunately for her didn't fit in as none of the group cared to study or discuss things that teenagers didn't tend to care much about. I was sure that Potter wasn't trying to drive her away but they had grown more distant. It was sad to see but quite understandable friends can drift apart without meaning to so easily.

As I'd once been a sociology student it had fascinating for me to watch this clique come into existence and it tickled me no end that Ron Weasly had been the factor needing of removal in order to create the clique.

The clique was also interesting as it was very different from my own social network despite the fact that Potter and I were quite a like these days in social standing. What with us both being you rich heirs to old Pureblood families.

My social network was made up of small groups of people as well but the smaller groups like best friends Susan and Hannah, who had their friends, had little to do with best friends like Neville and myself ,we also had friends that didn't know each other very well. But In contrast Harry's group all knew each other and did talk with each other even if they weren't that close.

I could see this for myself as right now they were all laughing and joking with each other as under-age magic users tried to get past the Headmaster's age line.

"What are you thinking about?" inquired Hermione once she got fed up of me sitting there thinking and not paying attention to her.

"About sociology" I answered.

"Oh" was her reply.

Feeling a bit sorry for the girl as her loneliness wasn't something you needed to be empathic to sense I started up a conversation. Not caring that Nott was waiting for me to put Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire.

"I'm also wondering if any of our peers have figured out how to get their names into the Goblet".

I turned to Granger and asked.

"How many ways have you thought up?"

"None," she replied "Dumbledore drew that age line no one under seventeen can put their name into the Goblet of Fire".

Her faith in Dumbledore as a good man had been shattered but she still had respect for the old man's power, and to be far he was a very powerful Wizard but he was from all powerful as I could prove.

"I can think of three ways" I told the teen.

Before she could call me out on that Victor Krum walked into the hall in order to put his name in the Goblet of Fire and he caught Granger's eye. She met his and there was certain spark in the air as just for a second they looked into each others eyes.

I suddenly felt very possessive over Hermione and a voice in my started to scream something about killing Krum to protect the Harem, which was odd because I didn't really have a proper harem yet but now I really wanted one and Hermione had to be in it.

Once Krum left I like all men who feel a girl they want to sleep with is looking elsewhere decided to show off.

"I'll make a bet with you Hermione," I offered "if I can get my name into the Goblet Of Fire right now you have to go on a date with me if I fail you get ten galleons".

Which was in Muggle money about fifty pounds which was worth a lot more in 1990's than it was in 2013.

"But what about Luna," reminded the teenage witch "won't she mind you going on a date with me".

Luna wouldn't mind if I started an orgy with the Hollyhead Harpies, as long as she could join in. She was also the one pushing for the harem because in her mind proper Dark Lord's had harems. I had no idea where she had gotten that idea from but I wasn't going to question it.

"No she won't mind," I assured "it will just be a date after all no more than a kiss goodbye I promise. Anyway what you worried about you said Dumbledore drew the age line so I shouldn't possibly be able to get past it".

"Okay fine do it, get your name into the Goblet and I'll go on a date with you to Hogsmeade".

She said that just loudly enough that it got people's attention. I now, thanks to her I had an audience.

If this had been the last time I'd been in school I'd of been way to shy to go through with this but given my powers I wasn't worried enough not to use this as a chance to enhance my reputation.

Bypassing Dumbledore's silly little magic line would make me very popular for a while. I'd also get into trouble but Luna could do with some company in the detentions she was serving for being caught crawling into my bed the other night while I was asleep.

"Okay time for some showmanship" I muttered to myself as I walked into the centre of the Great Hall.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" I shouted out "Hogwarts students of all ages come observe as I Damien Mason, Ravenclaw genius and Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor three weeks running, defeat Professor Dumbledore's defensive barrier with only one spell!".

"There's no way you can do that," argued Seamus Finnegan "its impossible".

"Au contraire " I disagreed "not only shall I defeat the age line but I will do it without moving from this spot all to win a date with the lovely Miss Granger".

Everyone was on the edge of their seats now and I knew that if my Dark Lord career plan didn't work out then at least I had a future as a children's entertainer.

Taking out the piece of paper which was I had Potter's name written on it in his own hand I placed it on the floor took out my wand and said.

_Wingardium Leviosa!_

With ease that only came with practice I moved the piece of paper through the air. As it reached the age line there was a collective intake of breathe and then a gasp of relief when nothing bad happened to me.

Now came the tricky part. Verbally casting the confundus charm while also keeping another spell going.

If I was just adding a name I wouldn't need the charm but I needed the Goblet to think that Harry Potter was entering under the name of a forth school in order to ensure that he took part in the tournament.

I muttered the word confundus under my breathe while keeping my wand perfectly still then I moved my wand just enough so that the Goblet took the piece of paper.

When everyone realised that I'd done it they cheered aside from Hermione

who looked very shocked, either because she now had a date or because I'd defeated Dumbledore's magic with a spell that was taught to every student in their very first practical Charms lesson.

"Anyone else want a go" I offered to the crowd.

They didn't get the chance.

"Well done Mr. Mason!" came the booming voice of the Headmaster "I admit that I did not consider levitation as a method of bypassing the age line. Twenty points to Ravenclaw for your cleverness but ten points taken because now I shall have to recast the age line before the whole school gets the chance to put their names in the Goblet of Fire".

Dumbledore's own enhanced charisma wasn't as powerful as mine but he'd been using it a lot longer so he was able to undo the effect my power had over everyone without making himself look bad. Which he'd failed to do with Fudge but children are more impressionable and easier to control.

His words had brought the crowd under this control and when he ordered everyone to leave the hall they did so without question rather than buck the system like I had wanted them to do.

Bravo old man. You win this round.

Purposely I didn't move as quickly as everyone else but neither did I disobey. I did however take the ring of my finger despite the fact that the Stone had the colour charm cast upon it in order to make it look different as I didn't want Dumbledore to notice the magical artefact.

Granger ended up half dragging me out of the Great Hall and into a nearby corridor.

"I can't believe you did that so easily" she said with great excitement in her voice "I really thought that no one would get past that age line but you did".

"Actually if you think about it I didn't," I pointed out "the age line worked it just didn't matter as I didn't try to physically cross it".

"That's what makes it so clever you thought about it logically, I never met a Wizard who could do that".

By force of habit I took us to a quiet spot, which was an empty classroom, and then cast the normally privacy charms.

Hermione realised that were alone and she blushed a little when asking.

"Are you sure about this date?"

I sat down on top of a desk opposite her and assured the teen.

"Of course I'm sure Luna understands that men aren't as monogamous as women and since our contract states that we must get married as soon as we leave school I need to date now".

"What about her?" inquired Granger "can Luna date boys?".

I hadn't really considered it since Luna didn't seem to care about anyone male other than her Dad, and myself. She did seem to like Neville somewhat, not in a romantic way as he was my best friend but I knew that she cared about him which was more than could be said for every other male that she knew.

"I guess so," I said to the Gryffindor student "the only limits in our contract is that she has to be a virgin when we get married".

That wasn't something I'd asked for it was pretty standard in such deals but Granger didn't think so.

"That's not fair, you can do it with girls but she can't with boys".

It was old fashioned that much was true that but I was paying a virgin's price so I should fairly get a virgin. Not that I would tell Hermione that.

"Well if all the girls have that sort of contract it is sort of fair because I can't sleep with them if they have to stay virgins," I pointed out "plus it ensures that Luna and I will have children once we are out of school and not before. It's very important in the Wizarding World to have children within wedlock as it ensures the child's inheritance".

"Still its barbaric" insisted Granger.

"Yes I know" I agreed "its one of the reasons why I want to start the rebellion".

She hadn't forgotten about that but she was thinking about being a rebel after she finished her schooling, she wasn't thinking about doing such things now like I was.

For now I felt that it was best to take her mind off things at least until after Harry's name came out of the Goblet then she would come to understand how badly this civilization needed to be changed.

"Anyway, I can date, kiss, have sex" I said wanting to keep Granger focused on the date "so yes going with me to Hogsmede is fine with Luna".

"I've never kissed..."

I'd known what she'd she was going to say so rather than let her say it I moved to kiss her and she didn't mind one bit even when it turned into a full blown snogging session.


	27. Chapter 27

Author Note: Last chapter and this chapter are shorter than normal as its romance and I don't have much experience with writing romantic stuff like dating, Thankfully Hermione's seduction to the dark side will be over soon and then Damien can kill Voldemort.

After that Grindlewald needs to be dealt with in order to ensure no possible rival for Dark Lord Damien but that can wait a while as Gellert isn't going anywhere.

**Reviews **

**War Sage**

Really?, what was so good about it. I'd like to know so I can repeat this success.

**Mattblue **

Here's the update.

**douchiesnacks**

Considering how many stories I'm working on your lucky I get any updates up. I'm trying to get a few chapters of Necromancer Gothic done while watching the Justice League so I can write DC. At the same time my Muse is inspiring me to finally write Darth Gothic which involves rereading my Old Republic books so I can figure out when Revan got back from the Unknown Regions and rejoined the Jedi Order, this seems to have happened a few times so its very confusing. And on top of all that I'm playing Dungeon Master tomorrow night so I need a story for that.

I'm just glad I'm I have an high intellect and a very active imagination, otherwise by now my brains would be leaking out of ears.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 27. **

**Hogsmeade Village. Scotland. The Wizarding World. **

"Hogsmeade is the only entirely Wizarding village in Britain," Hermione was explaining as we walked into village "according to history it was founded over a thousand years ago, around the same time as Hogwarts, by a Wizard called Hengist of Woodcroft who was felling persecution by the Muggles"

I was discovering that when Hermione didn't know how to act she went back to her default setting of know-it-all bookworm whose mouth spewed nothing but facts and expressed no opinions of its own. It was rather amusing and a little sad at the same time.

"Hermione, I do know all of this" I assured the girl "I to have read Hogwarts: A History".

She blushed and apologised.

"Sorry I babble when I'm nervous and it drives everyone mad...".

I had already discovered that kissing is a good way to shut Hermione up so kissed her quickly in order make her stop babbling. I'd of thought that it would make her even movr nervous what with it being in pubic an all but for some reason she actually found it extremely relaxing .

Walking gloved hand in gloved hand the two of us passed by a news-stand that sold Wizarding magazines along with a few Muggle papers, but only when the students were here I suspected as no Muggleborns actually lived in Hogsmeade as far as I knew.

"Sheogorath" said Hermione who was reading a Muggle papers headline.

No it couldn't be. Could it?

Quickly I paid a knut for the paper and read the story, as I did a frown crossed my face.

"What's the matter Damien?" asked my date in a concerned tone of voice.

"Apparently mad people from across the world are setting up cults to worship a being called Sheogorath who they say is their Prince".

"Oh yes I read about that in the Daily Prophet" remarked the teen "the Ministry was worried that a Wizard might be pretending to be a god and tricking mad Muggles but they haven't caught anyone and its world wide so if it is a Wizard doing this he's part of a group. No mad Wizards are talking about him but the Muggle World is very worried".

The Muggle paper said much the same thing only they didn't blame anyone for it. In fact they had no idea who Sheogorath was because crazy people were the only ones giving information. There some mentions about mental hospitals stocking up on cheese, and some patients trying to build shrines but aside from that there wasn't much to go on.

"Sheogorath is a Daedric Prince" I told Hermione "a kind of demon god, but he's fictional".

Well fictional in the sense that he appeared in works of fiction. I knew that he was quite real because we'd met. I even had his relic stashed inside my school trunk, but that didn't give any clues as to why this mad god was gathering followers in the Muggle world.

"How do you know that?" questioned Hermione Granger.

I turned to her and said.

"You'll find out one day".

She gave me a look which demanded more information so I led her off the beaten track and towards the Shrieking Shack.

"I know things, more than just what the Ministry is up to," I said trying to explain without giving to much away "but if people found out that I knew as much as I do then I'd be in the Department Of Mysteries having my brain put into a jar".

"You can trust me" assured my date.

"It isn't about trust." I replied "I'm going to be rebel leader. I can't tell you everything because its not safe. After all you can't tell people something you don't know and there are ways to make people tell the truth, some of them are horrible".

Hermione seemed to grab onto me as if she was afraid I'd leave. Not physically leave her but bring about some emotional distance between us.

The poor girl must be so lonely, and here I was using that to bring her under my control. I felt a bit bad about that but I comforted myself with the knowledge that at least when she was finally fully my control she would be safe with me, that she'd finally have someone in her life who would encourage her to use her talents and explore her full potential rather than try to keep her down.

Wrapped up as were, as we happened to be in Scotland during winter, we couldn't share our body heat but judging by hard Hermione was holding on me she seemed to want to try.

"I know its silly but can we go to Madam Puddifoot's later?" she requested.

Madam Puddifoot's was a small, tea shop with the kind of decor that made most men worry about losing their manhood when simply passing the place by. Luna would happily burn the place down with me rather than go in but Hermione seemed to be a total romantic once you got past her emotional defences.

Only a boy totally in love, or one hoping to get laid, would ever go there twice. The idea of going there with Hermione made me want to apperate as far away as possible. But as much as the idea of going there repulsed me it would help me win Granger over, and I do so want her to fully join the Outcasts.

"Maybe later its not even lunch time yet," I said by way of an answer "tea and cakes sounds like something we should do last of all that way we won't be to full up for tonight's feast".

Tonight was the night the names came out of the Goblet of Fire, there was no way I wasn't going to be sitting there stuffing my face in order to cope with the nerves.

A lot depended on Harry entering that Tournament. If he didn't then my evil plan of evil would be ruined and I have to go to plan B which was a lot more risky than getting to Voldemort under the guise of a loyal follower.

"I never thought you'd want to a place like Madam Puddifoot?" I commented as an attempt to focus on the now rather than the future "its so …... pink"

Which was the nicest thing I could say about the palace which to be fair I'd never actually seen but I'd heard the stories from Susan and Hannah which had alone had enough to put me off the place.

"Come on Luna must of wanted to drag you there." replied the teenage girl "Where is Luna today anyway?".

"She's got her visiting privileges revoked for the rest of term," I informed "she got caught entering my dorm room rather late one night with the intention to cuddle me like I was some sort of oversized teddy bear, apparently this is a crime at Hogwarts".

It wouldn't of been so bad if she hadn't started undressing. She'd gotten caught before she exposed anything by Flitwick who must of set up a ward of some sort in order to catch her in the act.

I'd been asleep at the time so I was blameless but my future wife was being forced to perform mundane tasks when she should be spending time with me. If I heard one more story about how she'd been force to clean things with her bare hands while the caretaker watched the devil cat Mrs. Norris was going to suffer a truly terrible fate.

"Oh" replied Granger who had no idea what to say about that so she decided to talk about her self.

"I've never been on a date" she explained looking a little embarrassed "I never thought I would until.. well boys take longer to mature so I thought I'd be waiting longer".

"I'm quite mature for my age" I said feeding my own ego.

"More than that your handsome, brave, rich, powerful and lots of girls want you and me well I'm just a bookworm".

The last thing I needed was concubine with self esteem problems, it was best to nip that in the bud.

"Your not just a bookworm I'm a Ravenclaw I know my bookworms. Your intelligent, very opened minded compared to most Witches and sexy as well. Oh and your ass looks great in jeans"

She blushed yet again but she also couldn't help but smile.

"Besides you know lots of ways to tell me I'm awesome, all guys want a girl to stroke their egos, or at least I do" I admitted.

To be fair it might just be me. My ego was somewhat justifiable inflated these days and thus I desired more praise.

"Oh I can do that," she teased "your most certainly the most powerful Wizard ever. Not even You-Know-Who himself could possible stand up to your great power".

She might of carried on joking like that but I asked her something.

"I've heard that Voldemort is back in the country, do you know anything about that?"

Granger paused and for a moment I thought she might lie or at least change the subject but to her credit she did neither. This was good as it meant my control over her was getting stronger than ever.

"Harry had a dream about You-Know-Who killing an old Muggle while speaking to a Death Eater called Bellatrix Lestrange"

So he could be at the Riddle House then, interesting. As for Bella being there well that could good for Neville, she'd have to be handled carefully as she was a very dangerous Witch but Nev should have that kill while I dealt with the current Dark Lord. As long as he was around I'd never be the true Dark Lord.

"Well that explains the World Cup," I said to my date as we hung around outside the supposedly haunted shack "he's back and that attack was warm up act that went badly wrong".

"Can we talk about something else," requested Hermione who clearly didn't want to be thinking about dark times while on a date "maybe go clothes shopping".

"Fine" I replied with a cheeky smile on face "but if I end up paying for clothes you spend a hour or so trying on until you finally find the right outfit I demand to be able to play with your boobs in return".

Hermione had much bigger boobs than Luna I really wanted to compare them.

"I'm not that sort of girl, Damien" protested Hermione "only a kiss on the first date".

We'd already snogged so I wasn't having that.

"Oh no," I argued "clothes shopping gets me boob you can't subject a man to clothes shopping without giving me a reason to keep on living".

"Its not that bad is it?" she asked.

I didn't need to reply she got the message when I looked her in the eyes.

"Really, its that bad" she realised "okay you can play with my boobs, its not like I'm wearing a bra".

What a minx, she'd planned for that possibility well in advance.

I must of looked to eager because she dampened my enthusiasm by saying.

"After we go shopping, but you don't have to pay".

Money was no big deal to me.

"I so have two trust funds," I reminded the teen "besides that's how dating works your suppose to reward a guy's good behaviour in order to encourage it, so I buy you nice things you let me grope you that's how it works".

Or at least that's how it should work. I was no expert on dating but that arrangement at least made sense to me.

"I'll have to take your word for it." she replied "All I got was when your ready and practice safe sex speech from my Mum. And not until your married and want kids speech from Ron's Mum".

Considering that most British Wizards didn't have a real faith it was odd ho they were all had very Catholic attitudes about sex.

"She probably met while married to Ronald" I commented in disdain "from what I've heard Mrs. Weasly is very keen to have Ginny marry Potter so it wouldn't surprise me if she planned for you to marry her son".

Thankfully I'd be able to avoid meeting the red headed matriarch as of yet, but given that Ginny was my friend and Harry as well now that Ronald was out of the way it might be possible that I'd be forced to socialise with the women. In fact it was quite possible given I was getting closer to Hermione who was also a friend of that family.

"Well that won't happen now," she assured "he won't even remember who I am".

Caught up in my own thoughts I had to ask the teenage Witch to repeat what she had said.

"Ron's been sent to live in the Muggle World" explained my hopefully future concubine as we walked back to the high street "they removed his memories of the Wizarding World and sent him off to live as a Muggle".

It was only because she'd started to emotionally distance herself from the male weasel that Hermione was able to talk about this without bursting into tears. But she was sad about it I could sense that and I felt a little guilty for making her sad but I'd made a commit to a certain course of action and Ron the Prat had been in my way.

"Lunch" I offered hoping to distract her "I should at least pay for that".

She took me up on the offer and I took us to the Three Broomsticks as they did rather good pub food.

While we waited for the food Hermione ranted on about everyday things such as her school work and her parents who sounded like very dull people in my opinion, not that I would of given that opinion if asked.

"Moody scares me", my date admitted "but he's teaching us a lot".

So do drill sergeants but they don't let drill sergeants teach children and for a very good reason.

At least we were being taught by the real Moody. It was possible to tell the difference as the real Moody didn't drink from a hip flask, he didn't kill spiders as a teaching method nor did use mind control magic on students.

He was loud, rude and highly dangerous but thankfully I had gone unnoticed by the Dark Wizard hunter. I guessed this was because no one in my 'family' had ever been a Death Eater nor had they fought against them. This was because they had never existed at all but the belief that the Masons were neutral made me unworthy of Moody's attention.

It was an amusing contrast to Slughorn who pretty much doted upon me shamelessly and not just because of my ever increasing skills in potions.

Slughorn saw great potential were as Moody saw an non-entity, yet it was Moody who concerned me because, assuming he didn't get himself killed in the next few years, there would come a day when I would battle him and those like him for control of the Magical World.

I'd long ago learned to look like I was paying attention while actually thinking about other things so Hermione kept talking never noticing that I wasn't really hearing a word she said nor did she the jealous looks some of the schoolgirls here in the pub were giving her for being with me.

The food arrived and I flashed my gold as I often did to impress people but Granger seemed immune to the lure of shiny metals that most fell victim to.

She was far more impressed by words and deeds rather than riches and social standing. Broken of her absolute faith in authority figures only someone who proved themselves talented were worthy of her attention.

Being handsome helped which was a bit shallow but she was only fourteen.

Still that attraction to talented, handsome and mature men only partly benefited me as it also led to her attraction towards Victor Krum the soon to be Triwizard Tournament champion.

Its seems that not even a Dark Lord in training is immune to petty teenage jealousies. I felt the urge to kill Krum for daring to catch Hermione's eye, but that would be a massive overreaction. And in any case I didn't want to be the kind of Dark Lord who killed people over such thing as it would demean me and everything I stood for.

What exactly it was that I stood for was something I was still trying to figure out, but I was sure that whatever it was that killing people for petty reasons wasn't part of it.

Perhaps I was feeling defensive over Hermione because I saw her as one of the mother's of my future children. Luna had told me that I needed to have lots of children as quickly as possible in order to play my part in countering the lack of population growth in the Magical World.

I really didn't understand how getting me to impregnate a few Witches would help to start some population growth, unless it started a tend of some sort but I doubted that. Yet Luna had assured me more than once that it was important not to only have a child but many of them.

Still the idea went against the Evil Overlord list twice.

Rule 18. I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would provide a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time.

Rule 19. I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own father.

Two really good reasons not to get any poor women pregnant.

Then again there was rule 141 which while it was not part of the one hundred original rules it would give the means to follow rule 142 which could be a real laugh.

I put amusing thoughts of possibly traumatising my future grandchildren out of my mind and ate my food while starting to wonder how women managed to keep talking for so long without passing out from oxygen deprivation.

My date for this day out hadn't stopped to take a breathe for at least five minutes now and my neck was getting tired from all the nodding I did while she spoke.

If it weren't for the fact that I really wanted to play with her breasts later I would of told her to shut the hell up but women tend to take that sort of suggestion rather poorly so I didn't.

"Come on let's going shopping" I said when it got to the point that even shopping would be more preferable than listening to whatever it was she was rambling on about.

As we left the pub and headed to the stores I gave considerable thought to the idea of making ball gags a requirement for my harem but perhaps that was silly.

"Oh we need to stop by the book store" mentioned Hermione "I need a a new copy of Spellman's Syllabary its contains..."

I had no idea what she said next as not even my translation amulet could help me understand nerd speak.

"Maybe I should go with ball gags" I muttered to myself "might go well with the golden bikinis".

"Wait what?" asked Hermione "what goes with bikinis".

Covering my mistake fast I started to lie.

"I was just think about my summer holiday this year. I want to take Luna somewhere warm for a change".

"I suggest France" she replied before going into great detail about the differences between the Magical and Muggle cultures of France and their counterparts in the UK.

Ball gags really did sounding tempting.


	28. Chapter 28

**Selias**

That might be tricky but its possible. A little humiliation never killed anyone so maybe something that embarrasses Krum but doesn't harm him could be arranged.

**Tylermech66**

Kahn!

Since you told me that your a history buff I decided to add a little Wizarding World history to this chapter.

**Winter Feline**

The tournament should be amusing since I have something different in mind for the tasks. You'll have to wait and see.

**Z2010Deadmeat**

Sadly I think the actual dealing with Voldemort will be rather anti-climatic in the end, but that's okay as since Harry isn't the protagonist of this story that means Voldemort doesn't have to be the antagonist. I think at this point I've made it clear that it's Dumbledore who is 'big bad' of this series.

I consider being called one of our favourite authors a honour given how many you have to chose from. I never imagined that my writing would even be read by so many people never mind enjoyed so much. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

**douchiesnacks**

I also think Nerdy girls are the best. Sometimes their lack of self esteem can be a bother but having a well read and opened minded girlfriend is a blessing if only because they really enjoy role-play while in bed.

Cuddling is also indeed awesome most men might not agree but just cuddling a women for no reason even if its not after sex is a great way to make them putty in your hands. Its doubly effective when your warm and and hairy like a oversized teddy bear.

Yes this Hermione has like the other Outcasts been shaped to better serve Damien. It just took longer as Hermione is a very stubborn and self-righteous person. People like that don't turn dark (as the Wizards would see it) easily but when they do its often more dramatic than the change you'd see in someone who is weak willed and more easily corruptible.

End result in my story is Slutty Granger whose knickers get wet for handsome and talented guys, and crushes on them so hard that her blind obedience to authority figures gets transferred to her crush to the point she'd join a rebellion if he suggested it.

Best of all its not even that out of character for her as she founded Dumbledore's Army (which was an illegal, even somewhat treasonous, group which was by Fudge seen as a rebel army in training) once her total faith in authority figures was lost.

Anyway I'm rambling again. On with the story!

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 28.**

**Hogwarts School. The Seventh Floor. The Room Of Requirement. **

While the Room Of Requirement couldn't simply create anything the user required (like say a holodeck from Star Trek was capable of doing) it was able to furnish a desired room using anything that had found its way into the room over the last thousand years.

I suspected that the House Elves had been the ones mostly using this room as a dumping ground because the vast majority of students never learned about the Room of Requirement, not even the famous Marauders had.

The reason I thought this was that I'd once asked the room to show me everything it had and that had led to me finding many massive piles of what was mostly broken furniture, as well as other damaged junk, therefore I concluded that this was where everything that was damaged and then cleared away by the House Elves ended up.

However it was also clear to me that this hadn't been always been the case because there were things in this room that were antique, intact and very expensive looking.

For example I had just requested a room that a secret society could make us of for a meeting. While most of the room was bare I had been provided with a large round table that looked to be very old and very well made.

I had to wonder if this was in fact the round table King Arthur and knights had once made use of, it certainly looked the part what with the mystic symbols and all.

Thinking about it the round table had to have ended up somewhere after the fall of Camelot, which was a real historical event on this world, and it wasn't unlikely that it could end up here as Hogwarts was founded in the 9th century which was about the same time as Camelot fell.

Also Merlin was known as a great enchanter and I could practically see the magic coming off this table.

"Sir Cadogan would know" I said thinking out loud.

He would surely know as he had been a Knight of the Round Table.

I was about to go and find the portrait and ask when a loud voice suddenly challenged me to a duel. Since the other Outcasts hadn't arrived yet this caused me to reach for my wand.

Turning on the spot I realised that I had forgotten that that portrait people could move between the paintings made of them regardless of distance and even into other nearby frames.

It made perfect sense to me that a Knight of the Round Table would have more than one painting he could have had many and while they were normally spread about the Wizarding World a damaged one could of made its way here and then been replaced with a painting found elsewhere.

"I say knave where did find my portrait?" the welsh knight demanded to know "answer me swine or face my blade".

This guy was not the best representative of Welsh nobility but I did have an idea of how to talk to him, or at least I had an idea of how to make an ass of myself by trying to talk to him.

"Hail Sir Knight I beg your pardon and ask a boon of you. I am but a mere squire and not fit to duel one such as yourself, yet I seek your wisdom and have questions that I would ask of you".

Somehow I didn't think that The Royal Shakespeare Company would asking me to make an audition any time soon.

"Oh come now we really don't have to talk like that" offered the knight "I just do it for a laugh".

"Huh?" was my intelligently asked question.

"All we portraits do all day is listen to you students talk so we know how to speak in modern ways its just expected for us to talk like we did back when we were alive or at least how people think we used to talk if I really spoke like I use to you wouldn't be able ti understand a word I was saying".

Having read A Canterbury Tale I knew he was right. If he really had been talking like a 9th century knight then I wouldn't have understood half of what he was saying as medieval English was very different than modern day English. Also he didn't even have a Welsh accent I should of noticed that.

"Anyway what is that you want?" asked Sir Cadogen "I haven't heard anyone call me from this painting since it was commissioned by Merlin back in Camelot so I came as soon as I was called".

"I just had a few questions Sir Cadogen" I explained "I was wondering if this table could possible be the Round Table you once sat at".

"Of course it is lad" answered the noble "Merlin brought it here with him after Camelot fell to Lay Fey".

Oh I was so taking this table with me when I left Hogwarts. Having my inner circle using the actual Round Table for its meetings that would be awesome to the extreme.

"Does it have any powers?" I asked of the knight.

"Merlin was rather a dab hand at charms so its indestructible as far as I know but its only real power is that make any oath sworn by a person whose sword or wand lies on the table a binding magical contract".

In my mind that didn't mean that the Round Table didn't have any other powers it just meant that Sir Cadogen wasn't aware of them.

"Mordred was the only one to ever break a vow sworn with his sword on the table, magical contracts are not easy to break and doing so forfeits the breaker's magic if they are a Wizard or their life if they are a Muggle".

For a Wizard losing one's magic was a fate worse than mere death.

"That's why Mordred shacked up with his cousin La Fey, he blamed Merlin for the loss of his magic and Lay Fey offered him a way to get some payback"

The history books at this school (which was what everyone learned Wizarding History from now that the subject was no longer taught at this school) confirmed most of the knight's story but they often disagreed with why Mordred had gotten into bed (literally it seems) with his cousin Morgana aka Morgan La Fey.

Now I had an answer. Mordred blamed Merlin for the loss of his magic and was driven by that hate. That explained why Mordred had tried to kill Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. Merlin and Arthur were close friends so hurting Arthur was the same as hurting Merlin.

But while that was a fascinating subject to hear about which I would of liked to hear more about it would have to wait as right now I wanted to find out how the Round Table worked before the rest of the Outcasts got here.

"So say if I wanted a group of people to swear an oath to obey me could I use the table to do that."

"Easily my lad" answered Cadogen "all you'd have to do is have the person you want in a binding magical contract to sit down at the table and then to place their wand or sword down so that it faces the centre".

I could see how that work the tip of the wand or sword would meet one fo the five points of the pentagram, which was a well know mystic symbol to both magical and mundane folk.

"Then with their right hand on wand or sword they make their oath and it becomes magical binding" concluded the knight "the magic of the oath taken is so powerful that even a Muggle will be bound by it"

"But you said that those oaths can be broken" I reminded "so I could still be betrayed".

"Only one person who sat at that table ever broke their oath, and there were many knights before Mordred and afterwards." The painting assured "The oath compels the maker to obey it, even Salazar didn't break the oath he made to his fellow Founders".

"What oath was that?" I inquired.

"I wasn't there for the oath myself" explained the moving picture "but from what I heard all the Founders swore an oath to always work together, to protect the school, and to teach anyone who could use magic regardless of social standing. Which meant that Muggleborns, Halfbloods and Purebloods were all taught the same".

"Really?" I couldn't but ask "I thought Salazar broke away from the group due to a falling out about teaching Muggleborns".

"Salazar and Godric did disagree on bringing Muggleborns to the school. Salazar taught Muggleborns he just disliked doing so because the Muggleborns he taught were often persecuted by their own relatives".

Medieval folk had greatly feared magic as they thought it the work of the devil and scared people could do very stupid things when motivated by fear.

"Salazar was also concerned that the same Muggleborns that Hogwarts had sheltered might turn against the school if persuaded to by power hungry Muggles"

A legitimate concern given that many of the defences the Wizarding World employed these days to protect them from Muggles hadn't been invented until after the time of the Founders. The warlords of that era would of seen Hogwarts as a tempting target for conquest.

"Accepting Muggleborns as students also brought Hogwarts to the attention of magic hating Muggles which endangered the school. Salazar felt that all magic users should stick with their own kind and that Muggleborns should be excluded from Hogwarts in order to protect them and the students of the school".

If a Muggle army had turned up at Hogwarts it could of turned into a blood bath as while the Founders were very powerful Witches and Wizards they wouldn't be able to take on a whole army, at least not while also protecting students.

"Of course Godric disagreed," stated the painting "in his view Muggleborns needed to be at Hogwarts in order to be protected even if that meant taking the Muggleborns away from their families".

That's not what it said in the history books but Cadogan had been around at that time so he should know what really happened. It also made Hogwarts sound a lot like the Jedi Order, at least in my view as the Jedi took children away to their temple to train them and it sounded like Godric had once had the same idea.

"The disagreement caused problems and more than once students debating the issue nearly ended up duelling, so Salazar left in order to ensure that the rift between himself and Godrix didn't destroy their friendship or end up splitting the school into hostile factions".

Which had happened anyway but that wasn't Salazar's fault really.

"Salazar ever loyal to his friends and still wanting to protect the school built a hidden chamber and placed a powerful creature inside the chamber to protect the school for him as he no longer could".

Cadogen's history lesson explained lots of things about this school and its history was now starting to make more sense.

Like for example why there was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Parselmouths can command serpents so the Basilisk could have been given orders to protect the school should it come under attack by magic hating Muggles.

Tom Riddle who was also a Parseltongue could of used the Basilisk for his ends by telling the creature that the Muggleborns were a threat just like Salazar had once thought them to be.

This all made sense in my view Salazar Slytherin couldn't of been a Dark Wizard because I couldn't imagine the other three Founders deciding to build a school with a known Dark Wizard. That would be silly even by magical human standards and it would of failed, the school would of never have been built. But Godric and Salazar had been friends once and friends do fall out over issues, which can led them to going separate ways.

It also convinced me that the Round Table was exactly what I needed as if Mordred had lost his magic by breaking his oath then anyone who did betray me would be end up like Ron Weasly. Also given that only person in history had ever broken an vow they had made while sitting at this table this meant that the table was a potent magical item just the kind of thing I'd been looking for.

"Thank you for answering my questions Sir Knight" I said to the painting "the Round Table is going to be used once more I hope that's okay with you".

The Knight didn't seem that bothered but he did mention something else interesting.

"Merlin might of objected but his portrait isn't active so he isn't around to deny you permission".

"Why isn't his picture working?" I inquired.

"We only become animate once the person we are portraits of die" explained the Knight "So Merlin must still be alive. He was already four hundred years old when he came to Hogwarts. He brought the Round Table with him but the Founders had already used it once and didn't want to again so Merlin created this room to store it along with other personal items brought with him from Camelot after it feel in 9th century".

History said that Camelot was founded in the 5th century by Merlin so I felt the need to ask about that.

"Camelot fell after four hundred years?" I questioned.

"Longer" answered "Camelot was a kingdom before Merlin was born".

Wizards could live for a few centuries if they were lucky and very powerful, I would could expect to be around for my three hundredth birthday according to what the life expectancy spell had told me but there was no way I'd see four hundred years.

If the Knight of the Round Table was telling the truth, and not just what he thought was the truth, then Merlin must have been incredibly powerful in order to live long enough to see Hogwarts as a adult student.

Still while I knew that the school hadn't only accepted children as students until after the Statue of Secrecy but Merlin must have been very old when he got here too old really, even he shouldn't of been able to live that long and he didn't seem the kind to make a Horcrux.

Unless he had a Philosopher's Stone that was possible because while the famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel had created the only known Philosopher's Stone he wasn't credited as its inventor, he was just the only person in living memory to actually make one.

So if Merlin's portrait wasn't active it could mean that Merlin himself was still alive. Perhaps living somewhere hidden away on this world or maybe even on another.

I also remembered something about versions of the myth about Excalibur mentioning that a stone was the source of the swords power. Perhaps the

Philosopher's Stone had more powers than merely providing unlimited wealth and the Elixir of Life.

All this also made me wonder if could make use of any more of Merlin's relics that might be stored here.

"Excuse me" I said the painting as I left the room.

The door to the room closed and I asked it to show me Merlin's possessions, when the door appeared again I went in to see what I could find.

Two things caught my eye, one was that the Round Table was there which confirmed Cadogen's story and the second thing that caught my eye was the sword in the stone.

"Bloody hell!" I swore "is that Excalibur?".

"No lad" answered Cadogen who still in the room, which meant that his portrait had indeed belonged to Merlin "that is Caledfwlch. Excalibur is much more powerful and it safely remains in the care of the Lady of the Lake".

There was no chance that I would be able to pull Excalibur from the stone but Caledfwlch sounded like a name given to some Welsh magic sword and given my heritage it seemed kind of appropriate that I should have that sword. Motivated by that desire I tightly gripped the sword and pulled with all my might. I didn't really think I could actually get the sword this way but it was worth a try and it might save me the effort of the blasting through all that rock.

Given that I'd been thinking that it came as a complete surprise when the sword slid out of the stone rather easily.

This ended up with my lying on the floor feeling grateful that Hogwarts students have to wear a cloak over their school uniform because it made for a much softer landing for the rest of my body, not for my head but it could have been worse.

"Well done lad" complemented the knight in the picture frame "this makes you the legitimate ruler of Great Britain".

After picking myself up and dusting myself down I asked Cadogen about that.

"I thought pulling Excalibur made one the rightful ruler of England?".

Cadogen made one of those sighs people made when they had to deal with ignorant children and really didn't want to.

"Excalibur was created for Arthur by Merlin to help him conquer all of what is now called Great Britain but in order to claim the title of King he had to pull Caledfwlch out of the stone first".

That was a bit confusing.

"Wait hold on if he was already King because he had Caledfwlch why did he need to conquer anywhere?" I asked.

Cadogan then asked me a question.

"What do you know of King Arthur"

"Not much" I replied "there's lots of conflicting information".

Most of what I knew about Arthur and the sword in the stone was in the Disney film which apparently turned out to be rather accurate as the Wizards had the same story due to Walt Disney being a squip but with a few minor differences or at least that was Cadogan told me.

But he could lying as his story only made sense if Merlin was an immortal Wizard, which actually isn't impossible but I found it hard to swallow.

"I went to Hogwarts as an adult" the knight was now saying "as in those days few children attended the school what with the dangers of travel".

Things like the floo network and the Hogwarts Express came into existence after the Statue of Secrecy was put into effect so before that letting children go to school would have been a lot more dangerous.

"While there I befriended Merlin who later invited me to Camelot to become a Knight of the Round Table. I served Arthur...".

"Wait hold on" I said "King Arthur was born in the 5th century how could you served him after leaving Hogwarts which was built only a thousand years ago?".

"Merlin's magic kept him alive" answered the painting as if that the end of the whole matter.

I checked out the sword in my hand there was no jewel in the hilt there never had been so perhaps Excalibur did have a Philosopher's Stone embedded in it and Merlin had used that stone to keep him and his King friend alive for hundreds of years. This was possible as Flamel and his wife were, if they were still alive, both over six hundred years old.

The painting had stopped talking so I asked it to keep going which it did after I said I was sorry for interrupting.

"I served my king for many years and like Merlin wished I used my magic to protect Muggles. This portrait was in fact commissioned due my defeating the Wyvern of Wye but while I was off slaying that beast Fay destroyed Camelot which was my king's seat of power".

Back in those days Great Britain had ruled by the nobility who all had their castles from which they ruled. Cities grew around these castles in order to enjoy the protection they offered. Camelot if it had ever existed would have been one of those cities.

"Merlin then returned to Hogwarts but soon departed for foreign lands in order to hide the Holy Grail which the Knights of the Round Table had recovered some years before".

I remembered something about the Holy Grail sometimes being referred to as a magical stone rather than a cup which had once held the blood of Christ.

So perhaps the Holy Grail was a Philosopher's Stone. It could have been stolen and then recovered before Merlin later disappeared along with it.

"But back to the matter of Caledfwlch" said the painting who had gotten off track "as I said King Arthur pulled Caledfwlch from the stone which made him the rightful king however not everyone agreed with this so Merlin created Excalibur which was based on the enchantments placed upon Caledfwlch".

One of Merlin's titles in the Wizarding World was the Prince of Enchanters so if anyone could improve on a sword meant to make one the rightful ruler of Britain it would have been Merlin.

"So" I said once my brain had processed what could simply one interpretation of the folklore about King Arthur and Merlin "this sword that I hold in my hand declares me to the rightful ruler of Great Britain".

"Yes" agreed the pigmented knight "the sword proclaims you the rightful ruler that is the point of it but few would acknowledge the claim these days as many didn't even when Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone".

It seems that Disney had it mostly right up until what happened after the sword was pulled from the stone.

According to painting Arthur was a Muggleborn (not that any Pureblood would admit that and he was adopted anyway so he may have been a bastard Half Blood at least, or even an orphaned Pureblood) who Merlin began to teach magic to hundreds of years before Hogwarts was built.

However while Arthur was a Wizard he hadn't been very skilled at magic but he was a good fighter, a bit like Neville really, and so after he'd pulled the sword (Caledfwlch) from the stone he'd been declared king by the act but not universally approved. This led to him become a conqueror with Merlin as his court magician and adviser.

Conquering an island the size of the UK is not an easy thing even these days and back then it must of taken years but with the Holy Grail Arthur and Merlin had years to spare.

Then after King Arthur conquered the island I call home he set himself up in Camelot, which Merlin had once lived in, and ruled the country for a few hundred years until Mordred betrays Camelot allowing La Fey to destroy it.

The Muggle in me didn't believe any of this because there was no real proof, but the Wizard in me was telling the sensible Muggle side that the magical world rarely makes sense, and that this isn't my world anyway so it could all be true even if it isn't back home.

By this point my head was spinning due to trying to sort out all the this information.

Needing some air I left the room and saw Neville, Ginny and Hermione heading down the corridor towards me. The three lions were more than an hour late for the meeting but that didn't surprise me as their house was in a bit of an up roar about Potter being chosen as school champion, they would have had trouble sneaking out.

"Hey guys where's Luna?" I asked of them as I really wanted to see my Seer girlfriend right now, for quite a few reasons

Rather than answer Hermione took out some old parchment and examined it.

"She up in the Astronomy Tower"

That's was weird Astronomy was last night so what could she be doing up there?

"She's not alone" added Hermione who then asked "does Luna have a sister?"

Rather than answer the question I span on the spot and vanished in a spiral of blue light.

**Hogwarts School. The Astronomy Tower. **

The Portal Spell which had engulfed me in a magical light show ended as I appeared inside the Astronomy Tower.

At once I saw the reason why Luna was here alone, she'd come here to kill herself.

_Accio! _I shouted as Luna jumped.

Without my wand or staff in hand I summoned Luna to me and she flew into my arms as if the wind itself had carried her.

"What the hell do you think you are doing" I asked my girlfriend in angry tone.

Tears were streaming down Luna's face as she explained.

"I want to die. I don't want to be alone any more. I want to be with my Mum again".

My anger faded fast as I realised what was happening here. Luna had taken the Hallow. I should of remembered that you can't hide things from a Seer she would of seen where I'd hidden before I'd even decided to hide it. If I'd kept it on me it might have been safe as its mostly powerless in my hands but I'd been worried that Dumbledore would of recognised it.

I also realised that I was responsible for this in other ways. Lately we hadn't been spending to much time together as I'd been to busy with Granger and my grand schemes when clearly Luna had wanted to get closer to me physically and emotionally.

"Did you mother talk you into this?" I asked.

Luna's face was now buried into my shoulder but I could hear what her muffled voice was trying to say.

"No but she was angry that I summoned her again so soon, she said she wasn't suppose to be here and that I needed to move on and live myself".

Sound advice but teenagers rarely listen to such things.

"I'm sorry for letting you feel alone" I said my future wife "I've been so busy and I forgot about you".

"Its not your fault" argued Luna "I should of said something but I just couldn't stop thinking about the Stone, and you had Dark Lord things to do stuff that matters more than me".

It hurt to hear her say that.

"I should of destroyed it the moment I found it" I said admitting my mistake.

Luna said nothing so I let her go and located the Stone. I didn't know how to destroy so perhaps I could just dump it somewhere remote. Then I felt the weight of the sword still in my hand.

Magic sword, magic stone. It was worth a try.

The gem shattered as my new blade struck it but the Stone didn't go quietly. Unlike when the Elder Wand was or would be destroyed, assuming I destroyed it, the reaction was more energetic I was thrown into the wall and Luna screamed or at least that was what I heard just before I blacked out.


	29. Chapter 29

**Reviews **

**Lennex MacDuff **

I've always found it odd that the Arthurian stuff wasn't utilised by JK Rowling more than it was. The sword Harry pulls out of the hat is clearly based on the sword in stone and the Philosopher's Stone is of course a lot like the Holy Grail. Yet aside from that and Merlin being an important figure in history all that Arthurian lore went to waste.

As for Salazar well the Founders must been a lot more sensible than modern Wizards because four people can't found school without a lot of team work and trust. I think that Salazar was made a villain because it makes the story of the Founders seem more interesting and people do tend to exaggerate such events over time. Blame the Bards.

**Z2010Deadmeat**

True Voldemort was never going to be a great threat given what Damien knows and the tools he has.

As for Umbridge I did kill her in Hero Gothic but Damien isn't an anti-hero he's an actual villain so he should be more creative and cruel. Still while he can be a ruthless killer he's not a total psychopath so he needs a reason to murder Umbridge which as of yet she hasn't provided. Then again she might of already committed enough crimes to make her death justifiable Damien would just to run into her and discover said crime. I'll give it some thought and then work it into the story.

Overlord Gothic was very fun to write but I think my story telling has greatly improved since then. It helped that I intended for this story to be a long one as it meant that I didn't need to rush into anything and that my characters had plenty of room for personal growth. Overlord Gothic wasn't really as well planned out but still I think it did okay considering how amateur I was back when I started.

Exile is a very effective means of dealing with an enemy when you have the options magic gives you. Plus its safer than simply imprisoning someone and exile gives you a chance to gloat before you go home.

So many self inserts play the hero or have their characters spend most of their time trying to get home. To me that's just a waste of good opportunity.

**Winter Feline **

It was a bold move with some very interesting consequences as you will see in this chapter.

Dumbledore come to help a student with danger he didn't put them in, that seems unlikely. No it will be his friends as they know where he was going and they have the Map.

**douchiesnacks**

Thank you, I'm glad your enjoying it so much.

**Selias**

Well yes that would be the excuse.

I don't think Queen Elizabeth II would be amused about it. But as I said in the last chapter not many people would acknowledge the claim or at least the humans won't.

The sword is a divine instrument but what god made it? Well that's the question. In the sword in the stone film there was a kind of heavenly light shining on the sword so that made me think that's its divine in some way but that doesn't mean that it has anything to do with God. It could be the tool of a Pagan deity.

However Fate like DEATH is an active force in the Wizarding World so destiny could made the sword as the point of the sword is to say whoever holds this sword is the rightful King of Britain.

As for what Damien will do with the sword well not much right now but later its going to be very important.

As I stated Excalibur is guarded by the lady of the lake so she is the only one who can given someone Excalibur. Again that is important later but you'll have to wait as it involves a lot of travel and Damien isn't free to go off around the world yet.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 29.**

**Limbo. **

"My afterlife is bar".

And an empty bar at that. The lack of people made it rather spooky so I kept talking to myself.

"Somehow I should of guessed that, but hey free drinks".

Despite saying that I didn't go right for the bar. Instead I walked around and examined the place quickly discovering that this was the same pub that the Traveller had taken me to in order to offer me the reward. In many ways it seemed rather fitting that the whole thing should end here where it started.

"Hello Damien" said a voice.

I was not remotely surprised to see the Traveller now sitting at the very table we'd sat at during our first conversation, he had even worn the same outfit for occasion.

Sitting down across from him I didn't bother with any small talk.

"So am I dead?".

The being who liked to wear my face sort of gave me an answer.

"Yes and no".

When it became clear that I needed more information it was provided.

"Your halfway between the two. This is limbo".

I found it odd that wasn't all white and clean like it was when Potter had visited, or would possibly visit, and I commented upon it.

"It's actually the same place" The Traveller explained "For Harry Potter King's Cross Station is a point where he goes from one world to the other, from Muggle to Magical so for him it's a place of transition. For you this bar is the same thing, this is where you were when you went from one life to the next. Your mind is giving limbo, which is also a transition point, a frame of reference you can comprehended".

Amazingly that made sense.

"How did I die?" I inquired "I'm a Wizard being slammed to the wall shouldn't of killed me".

"Well your not actually dead" reminded the Traveller "what brought you here was destroying the Stone. The Hallow can both summon and banish spirits, you can even exorcise ghosts with it but doesn't do anything to the living. Well at least not directly. However you decided to destroy something that Death himself had created with a very powerful magical sword. Caledfwlch happens to be a divine instrument so it could destroy the Stone but the act of destruction released the Hallow's power which pushed your soul out of your body. However your body is still alive".

"So I can go back" I realised.

The Traveller nodded and said.

"Or you can go on"

"Tempting but no thanks everyone I care about is alive".

Then I remembered Luna's scream.

"Is she okay?".

The Traveller said nothing.

"Luna I mean" I said offering clarification which was a bit odd as the Traveller normally just read my mind perhaps the rules were different now. "She got hit with the energy so she might be here"

"She is and she might move on or go back" answered the being "its up to her".

Something was wrong here, the Traveller didn't seem to be his normal godlike self. I decided to probe him for information about what was going in order to find out if he was somehow diminished while in this place.

"So why did Potter met Dumbledore in this place. I thought loved ones were suppose to met you at the Pearly Gates".

I'd always assumed that Dumbledore must have been waiting for Potter in limbo which was why he didn't appear in the Forbidden Forest to support Potter as he marched off to die.

"That was likely a Reaper" answered the Traveller

"A what".

"Magic using humans always get taken to the other side by either Death himself or a Reaper which was what his proxies are often called".

"I'd of thought the Discworld Death would of turned up" I said with some amusement "or maybe some version of the Grim Reaper who would let you return to life if you beat him in a game".

"He always wins a chess and twister" commented the Traveller who sounded as if had first hand experience "what game would you challenge him to?"

"Snakes and ladders" I replied.

The Traveller seemed perplexed by my choice and asked me why I'd of picked that game.

"Winning at snakes and ladders requires no skill whatsoever. The dice decide everything so unless Death cheats you have a good chance of winning".

The Traveller seemed to be rather impressed by my idea which again struck me as odd given that for my power and knowledge I was a bug compared to him.

Was this the Traveller?

"What are these proxies like, do they look like Death?" I asked.

"Sometimes it depends on who their Reaping. Most of the time its loved ones or an authority figure your used to obeying".

Okay now I was almost certain of what was going on here.

"Or perhaps a mentor or a guide, someone's who advice you'd follow" I said.

"Yes" agreed the 'Traveller' "or the Grim Reaper himself if fear seems to be the best way to help some accept death. Then when they accept that are dead they can move on. Then depending on where you go you'll then see your loved one's gain".

I needed a little more before I exposed this guy.

"What's my real name?"

"Damien Mason" answered the being sitting across from me.

"Your a Reaper" I told the 'Traveller' "drop the act its not working".

The Reaper dropped the act his attitude and body language changed in an instant.

"What gave me away?" asked the Reaper

"A few things. For starters my real name isn't Damien the Traveller knows that".

The fact that this Reaper didn't know my real spoke volumes about how much I'd become Damien Mason over the years, but the Traveller knew who I really was.

"He also reads my mind which you clearly can't".

"Actually I am" corrected the Reaper "this is all inside your mind".

Oh yeah good point, aside from the fact that the mind he was had a fake shield mind around it. Maybe that was why this Reaper thought I was Damien Mason the two layers could confuse things.

Thankfully I had more than that to go on.

"Also you said yourself a Reaper takes the form best suited to guiding a person to accepting Death. The Traveller could easily do that given what else he has made me accept over the years".

"The jig is up then" said the Reaper with a grin "okay I'll give you the facts and then just let you chose your final destination. You and Luna Lovegood have just both absorbed a very, very small amount of Death's power, a tiny almost unnoticeable fraction of the whole but its enough to give you some major powers and it will have side effects".

"Major powers" I promoted.

"Since your now a bit like a Reaper, as we have some of Death's power in us as well, you will be able to use your magic to do stuff like read minds, walk through solid objects, and move about unseen. There's some other stuff but you can already do most of it, but you'll find teleporting easier and your immortal now as well.

"What about the side effects?" I asked.

"Well you might, and I say might, start to care a lot less about people dying. You could also become emotionally disconnected from other people, you'd stop caring so much about how they feel because you know that in the long run mortal suffering doesn't matter".

That didn't really sound much different that how I was now but only time would really tell.

"So to sum up my life if I got back not only I am a Dark Wizard with access to a large variety of spells and magical items which includes a sword that makes me the rightful King of Britain but I'm now also partly a Reaper".

"Yep" replied my guide to the after life "your fate's tool no doubt about it a chosen one I'm guessing. which means when your ready to leave".

Which I was given that I wanted to get back to Luna or at least get back so I could find it if she had chosen to move on.

"Then one of the bosses"

"GOOD EVENING"

"should be here to send you on your way".

I stood up to find the Death of the Discworld and the Death of Rats were waiting for me.

"Hello" I said unsure of the protocol here "should we get going then. I want to go back to life not the other way just to make it clear".

"SQUEAK?" asked the Death Of Rats

"Pretty much" I replied.

"SQUEAK?" the vermin Grim Reaper asked the Death of everything else.

"I WOULD NEVER BE AS FOOLISH AS TO CREATE SUCH A THING MY COUNTERPART HERE ON EARTH HOWEVER WOULD BE".

"Where is he?" I inquired "doesn't he do personal appearances".

"HE IS AT AN ACE OF BASE CONCERT. AND NO HE DOES NOT DO MANY AS YOU SAY: PERSONAL APPEARANCES.

I remembered those guys. That didn't seem to be the kind of music a personification of Death should listen to but it could have been worse, he might be a Janet Jackson fan.

"I thought Death turned up when Wizard's died or at least when they should die. I'm surprised I didn't know you were coming either".

"ON THE DISCWORLD YES BUT ONLY YOU AND LUNA LOVEGOOD HAVE BEEN TO DISCWORLD AND SEERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FORESEE THEIR OWN DEATHS".

"So why don't I know when I'm going to die?" I asked.

"THAT ONLY WORKS IF YOU ARE DUE TO DIE ON THE DISCWORLD".

Knowing this Death as well as I did that all made perfect sense but that might because I was part Reaper now.

"Wait I'm immortal now so maybe I will never die" I realised feeling a little panic.

Death didn't seem so scary when you've met him and you know that you will continue to exist after the meeting.

"EVERYBODY DIES EVEN I WILL SOME DAY. BEING IMMORTAL JUST MEANS THAT NEITHER AGE OR SICKNESS CAN TOUCH YOU. YOU CAN HOWEVER STILL BE KILLED VIA INJURY, BE MURDERED OR EVEN TAKE YOUR OWN LIFE SHOULD IT NO LONGER BE WORTH LIVING".

That was oddly comforting and the bit about death dying triggered a memory of something I'd read once.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die".

"AH YES MR H. P. LOVECRAFT. I WOULD LIKE TO MEET HIM PERHAPS MY COUNTERPART WOULD ALLOW ME TO REAP MR H. P. LOVECRAFT AT THE RIGHT TIME".

"I thought he was already dead?"

"COME ALONG NOW MR. THOMAS. YOU HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY".

"Don't I? What's the rush? I asked "I'm in limbo does time even matter here?".

"SQUEAK!" ordered the Death of Rats

"Okay fine I'm coming" I replied.

As a group we exited the pub and my last words were.

"We should of stopped for a drink".

**Hogwarts School. The Astronomy Tower. The World Of The Living. **

"Well that was weird" were my first words as I arrived back from limbo.

"Damien!" screamed Hermione like a banshee as she rushed over to my side "how did you apperate inside Hogwarts, and why are you on the floor, where did you get that sword and what happened to Luna?"

Somehow I was able to follow that and answer every question.

"I didn't apperate. I got knocked out by a mystical explosion. The Room of Requirement. And the same thing that happened to me".

It would take a moment or two for her to process that which gave me a chance to rush over to Luna and to examine her. She was already waking up and I breathed out a sigh of relief when her eyes opened.

"Don't scare me like that" I ordered in my I'm the boss of you tone of voice "I can't do this without you. I needed you here with me".

Luna seemed oddly happy considering what had just happened. She leapt up and kissed me before saying.

"I spoke with my Mum and she told me I had to accept death. She said I would be with her again one day but that there was no need to go with her now unless I wanted to".

Given that Luna was here it was clear that she hadn't chosen to move on. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her 'Mum' had most likely been a Reaper.

"But I have things to do here before I leave, so I said goodbye to my Mum and didn't take the bus home from school".

Bus to school?

Oh right now I remembered Luna had for a few weeks gone to a Muggle primary school but it hadn't worked out due to some accidental magic.

"I'm glad you didn't go with your Mum I don't think I would last very long without you. I'm sorry for not being there more for you. I love you very much".

The rest of the Outcasts were by now quite used to Luna saying odd stuff in fact they'd only worry if she started making sense because that would mean either she was broken or that they were the ones going crazy. However they were use to making more sense so Neville who had caught up to Hermione asked me to explain.

"Err Damien what's going on?".

"Horcruxs can be hard to destroy" I lied "it was bit crazy there for a bit but its over now".

The Outcasts as was normal accepted what I told them as the truth. I'd explained to them about the Horcruxs but I'd not let on as to how many there were and what they were as of yet.

Knowing that I needed to spend some time with Luna I told the others that the meeting would have to wait until next week and not to worry about the Tournament as I had it all figured out. But really I just wanted to get rid of them so I do all the touchy feely stuff I was about to do in private.

After the rest of the Outcasts had gone knowing that we would met again in a few days. I decided that it was time I went to bed.

"Come on Luna let's go bed" I said intending to spend the night in the Room of Requirement".

"Can I sleep naked?" she asked as I half carried her down the stairs.

"Sure why not" I answered

"Oh goody" she replied.

Considering that we'd both just had a near death experience neither of us seemed to acting that differently than normal, but I got the feeling that things had changed and that very soon I was going to find out just how different I really was.


	30. Chapter 30

**Author Note.**

Right then request time. I need four tasks for the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. They need to be based on the four classic elements which are fire, earth, water and air. I have a few of my own ideas but I thought you guys and gals might like a chance to contribute to this story as after all I'm writing it for my reviewers so you should have some input.

Please send me an idea even if its just one task if you do want to try for all four of them then be my guest as that increases your chances of having me pick one of yours.

Also I need details don't just say obstacle course or four way duel that's not enough the tasks have to be both dangerous and interesting.

**tylermech66**

I don't see how he could conquer either Wales or England the Muggle world is simply too powerful to be conquered by Wizards.

Well it might be possible if Damien found away to use magic to disable Muggle technology which return the world to a more primitive state while Damien starts building an army of magical creatures which he could use to conquer his island home.

But that would be the long term plan. In the short term The Wizarding World he could conquer or at the least the U.K but he doesn't have to the sword just entitles him to its fully optional.

What isn't optional is overthrowing the Ministry and remaking Wizarding Britain but he doesn't have to conquer it to do that just starting a rebellion would be enough as long as the rebellion succeeds.

In any case Damien has plans for making himself a king and getting himself a kingdom before he start thinking about conquest.

**Z2010Deadmeat**

The Elder Wand is for all its power simply a wand with a well deserved reputation for getting people killed. But the Stone, well that allows people to summon the spirits of the dead which is a much bigger deal than merely having a super charged wand. The amount of power needed to bring back entire groups of people from their after life must be incredible. Plus Damien used another powerful artefact to destroy it so the reaction would be energetic if the two powers don't respond well to each other.

As a Welsh man I do indeed love dragons but the dragons in Harry Potter's world wouldn't make suitable steeds. Perhaps Damien will slay one as future kings with a magic sword often do that sort of thing in order to prove their worth.

**A W**

Damien isn't a Master Of Death so much as he is a Hallow, the power of the Hallow went into him (and Luna got some to) but its raw power rather than power meant to do a certain thing. He became a part proxy for death like the Reapers are but he's still alive so he's not an actual Reaper he just has some of their powers. It sounds more complex than it is.

As for destroying the Hallows well Harry destroys one of them after becoming the Master of Death which Damien wasn't when he destroyed the Stone so it made sense to me that something would happen. Plus it made an explosion and this fic needed an explosion as its a little light on action.

**notdotworthy**

Glad you liked it.

I got the idea while thinking about Harry's time in limbo. It seemed odd to me that Dumbledore was there rather than Harry's parents who you'd think would want to be there for him.

So after some thinking I came up with three possible explanations.

One was that Dumbledore hadn't crossed over and was waiting in Limbo which explains why he didn't appear with the other dead people in the Forbidden Forest he wasn't in the afterlife to be summoned back.

The second explanation is that it wasn't Dumbledore at all it was a Reaper like in Supernatural who can get into people's head if needs be like what happened to Bobby Singer.

Third would be that it was all in fact something Harry imagined and that he didn't die at all because at that point he was the Master Of Death and therefore immortal at least until he broke the Elder Wand.

I went with option two for this story as Damien has no one in Limbo to met and he's not the Master of Death.

**Lord Edric**

Sorry I don't know who that is.

**Douchiesnacks**

Thanks.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 30.**

**Hogwarts School. The Seventh Floor. The Room Of Requirement. **

The room seemed more eerie than it had when I had last been in this room perhaps it was because the level of light was lower or maybe it was the fact that my inner circle and I happened to all be wearing thick, heavy black robes while we sat around the Round Table.

Aside from the robes the room had also provided us with rather comfy chairs to sit in and of course mine was the largest and most ornate of the lot which was appropriate given that I was the leader of this group.

In fact I was much more than the mere leader of a group of social outcasts these days. I was a tool of fate, the product of a god's desire to reward his rescuer, the next Dark Lord and in some ways the rightful ruler of this island nation.

The last of those descriptions was the also the newest and the one I was having the most trouble accepting. Pulling the sword out of the stone had been completely unexpected. I'd never imagined that someone like me would possess the qualities needed to use the fabled sword in the stone (Caledfwlch as it was called) but I also had no idea what those qualities could be so perhaps it wasn't as unlikely as it seemed or maybe the sword had a will of its own (like wands and some staffs seemed to) and had for its own reasons chosen me to wield it.

"We've all made our oaths" stated Neville who like me had his sword facing one point of the pentagram "now what?"

I stood up and started to pace the room as I often did when needing to think about what I wanted to say.

"Now we have to decided what to do about Voldemort".

To their credit none of the Outcasts flinched upon hearing the name.

"I thought Harry was our concern?" asked the newest of the Outcasts.

Hermione had only made her oath because I had promised in return to protect Harry from Voldemort so it was understandable that she felt the need to remind me of that especially since she had sworn to serve me onto death.

My oath on the other hand been careful phrased so that power of the Round Table would only compel me to protect Potter as long Riddle was the danger. This meant that if I got rid of Riddle I'd of fulfilled my oath and that would free from me any responsibility I had to safeguard the Boy-Who-Lived. It also meant I would be able to kill him myself if I ever felt I had to. Not that I had any desire to as he was a harmless kid the kind that is nice but dim and a bit of a hero too, and the world did need its heroes.

I moved around the room and put my hand on Hermione's shoulder giving a gentle squeeze in order to reassure her.

"Of course Harry is our concern, and that is why Voldemort must be dealt with".

"But the prophecy" reminded Granger "you told me only Harry can defeat Voldemort".

"No," I corrected "what I said was that only Harry can _kill_ Voldemort but we don't need to kill the Dark Lord in order to defeat him. Simply exiling him to another world would remove the danger to Harry".

I moved around the table once more as I spoke to the whole group.

"Right now Voldemort is vulnerable. He has a few Death Eaters left but until he is restored in body he's not going to be able to start rebuilding his army".

"Can he get himself a new body?" asked Neville who was understandable concerned about such a thing.

"I only know of one way" I told the group "and that involves a ritual that isn't complex but the requirements for the ritual can be tricky to acquire".

"What are they?" inquired Ginny.

"Bones of his father, flesh freely given by a servant and the blood of an enemy" I answered "The last one is harder to get that you think not many people are actually enemies of Voldemort".

"That doesn't make any sense" argued Hermione "only the most fanatical Death Eaters would give him their flesh but Voldemort has lots of enemies".

Actually she was wrong about that.

"Define the word enemy" I requested of Hermione.

"An enemy is someone who actively opposes you and what you stand for" supplied the book worm.

"In ritual magic symbolism is very important remember that" I instructed while still walking around the room "another word for enemy is adversary many people might disagree with Voldemort's ideals and his goals but really not that many people could be considered his adversary because few people actually make an effort to oppose him".

Hermione understood where I was going with this.

"Harry is Voldemort enemy because Harry stopped Voldemort from getting getting the Philosophers Stone he made himself Voldemort's adversary".

My smile showed my approval towards her as did my words.

"Exactly" I agreed "Harry is Voldemort's enemy. Dumbledore's blood would work too as the Headmaster actively opposes Voldemort".

He didn't do it very in my view well but he had duelled Voldemort and worked against him in the past even going as far to create the Order.

It was possible that the blood of someone in the Order might work as well but the symbolism mattered Voldemort knew this. That was why he went to all that effort to get Potter to that Graveyard in the original time and why the Dark Lord has also lured Potter into the Forbidden Forest at the end of the last school year.

"There might be other ways for him to get a new body" informed Luna who had been silent up until now "but I can't see them I just know he will have a body soon. Very soon".

**The Riddle House. Little Hangleton. The Muggle World. **

On the floor of the drawing room Bellatrix Lestrange knelt before a makeshift shrine. The Dark Witch whispered words in an alien tongue, words that matched the strange symbols carved into wooden boards around the pentagram.

From a short distance away the diminished form that was Lord Voldemort sat watching as his most loyal of Death Eaters summoned a demon-god from another universe.

The creature once known as Tom Riddle didn't believe in gods, even though he fully intended to become himself one someday, so it came as a complete surprise to the Dark Lord when the summoning ritual worked.

In an incredible display of power reality itself warped as a being appeared

in the centre of the pentagram.

The 'god' looked like a normal man, and a Muggle one at that, he was even dressed in everyday casual clothing that wouldn't look to out of place in the nearby village aside from the leather jacket that was certainly not made from any leather Muggles used.

Even in his weakened state Voldemort could sense the power of what Bellatrix had summoned. Appearances could be deceiving but the dark power of this creature could not be denied nor hidden no matter what form he, or perhaps it, had taken

Oddly for Riddle he found himself ignored as it was conjurer who drew the summoned beings attention.

Bellatrix slowly stood up and addressed what he she had brought into this world via ritual magic.

"Lord Ansgar-Yama" she said with all the respect due to the god "ruler of the Hell-Dimension of Arx I wish to make a bargain".

Ansgar-Yama laughed and with a blur of speed he bypassed the protective wards around the pentagram and then grabbed the Witch by the neck lifting her into the air but rather than choke the life of the Death Eater he seemed to examine her as if she was an interesting specimen for study rather a person.

"Your not much use to me" commented the Hellgod "you have power but your infertile and insane. Both of which I could fix easily enough assuming that is what you want, but what is in it for me and what are you offering in return?".

Bellatrix was dropped to bare floor and when next she spoke it was with fear lacing her voice.

"I wish for nothing more than my lord's restoration. In return I offer my soul".

"Such as it is" muttered the Hellgod before saying more loudly "so you offer yourself to me in exchange for restoring the Wizard known as Tom Riddle to his former self".

Bellatrix was one of the most dangerous Witches alive but in comparison to this Yama she was next to nothing and she knew it. That a Pureblood of her power and linage would even acknowledge this never mind act on it would give anyone watching this scene an idea of just how powerful this god was.

"I humbly offer myself," she said while getting on to all fours like a dog

"I will serve you forever, in anyway you see fit".

For the first time since he arrived Yama bothered to notice the thing known as Voldemort. The Dark Lord felt like he too was being examined much like how a entomologist might examine some new breed of insect.

"Very well Bellatrix Lestrange here is the offer" said Ansgar-Yama formally "In exchange for your mind, body and soul I will restore Tom Riddle to what he was before a mere baby killed him".

The deal was made by the signing of a name in blood and the power of such a deal rewrote reality, not changing the past only the present altering it such a way that Lord Voldemort was restored to the state of being he was just before he was killed by Harry Potter which had the side effect of also returning the bit of soul inside Harry Potter to Voldemort.

This didn't make much difference to Tom Riddle himself as his soul was already damaged beyond repair, but it reversed the creation of his accidental Horcrux leaving the Dark Lord with a soul now in three parts.

Once the magic of the contract had done its work and Voldemort was restored to a full body a portal was opened. Ansgar-Yama took his new slave back to the Hell-Dimension that he ruled.

"I will serve you well Lord Ansgar-Yama" promised Bellatrix as she walked into the swirling opening that was the portal.

"Just call me Lord Gothic" insisted the demonic deity as he stepped into the rip in the fabric of space and time "Ansgar-Yama is part of my formal title, and things between us aren't going to be that formal".

With that Voldemort was left alone to wonder if he should reconsider his stance on gods. Perhaps seeking out a patron of his own wouldn't be such a bad idea.

**Hogwarts School. The Seventh Floor. The Room Of Requirement. **

Luna's prediction naturally concerned me. My current plan depended upon Riddle being weak when I attacked but if he was somehow restored to body having been convinced to abandon his current plan, perhaps due to losing Theodore Nott his only spy here at the school, then I would have to strike soon or risk facing a Voldemort able to fight back.

"Neville how's it going with the Dwarves have they replied to your letter?" I inquired.

Since the Longbottom family had dealt with the Dwarf smiths in times past it had made sense to me to have him contact the Dwarves for me. The tricky was doing it without his parents or his formidable Grandmother finding out.

"Tizzy got back to me with their latest letter" Nev informed "Turns out they do know how to enchant mithril but the Elves, the real Elves I mean, took most of the mithril with them when they buggered off".

Well they hadn't so much buggered off as they had sailed a fleet of ships out to see opened a sort of whirlwind portal and gone to settle another world but I could imagine that 'buggering off' would how the Dwarves would phrase it.

"They do still know how to make the armour" assured my best friend "but there isn't enough of the stuff left to make a crown never mind five suits of mithril armour".

Hermione ,who didn't know that mithril was in fact simply platinum which had undergone the same process Goblins used on regular silver to turn into Goblin silver, asked me to explain what Neville was talking about.

I quickly explained that was not only mithril real but that is was also enchanted platinum.

"Goblins can turn silver and gold into suits of armour and weapons. Silver is better for that than gold due to being more common but they can do the same to gold even though its not as tough as silver".

"But platinum is even rarer than gold and very hard to mine" she stated catching on "Muggles can mine it but they have machines that help with that, but the Dwarves don't so they would only ever find small amounts".

I gave the teenage Witch some more information on the subject.

"Dwarves for all their famed mining skills simply don't have the resources or the population to set up that many mines were as humans do or at least Muggles do. Dwarves only start new mines when they want to start a new colony. They do mine metals but since the Goblins have control over minting coins and therefore near total control over bronze, silver and gold the Dwarves haven't gotten much business. Muggles were their biggest customers since they weren't feared like Goblins were so they did well until the other magical races forced them into hiding".

"Dwarves did most of the building for Wizards as well" added Hermione "but Wizard don't seem to build anything ".

"They don't need to" I explained "there's next to no population growth due to the Purebloods strangle hold over the Magical World forcing most Muggleborns out. Add to that the fact that Purebloods aren't breeding and you get a society completely lacking in any need for new construction".

I'd have a hard time proving that as things like birth records were sealed in the Ministry but there was some evidence to support what I had said that could be gathered via observation.

"When everyone inherits property there's point in building new homes" I added "Muggleborns live in the Muggle world even if they work in the Wizarding one and therefore rent a place or get mortgages. Purebloods either stay with their parents get flats in Diagon Alley or get married young and live in a house their family has owned for a few hundred years. Even if they did want new property they'd buy or steal it from the Muggles and then alter it to their needs".

It hadn't been that hard to find a few adult Muggleborns in the Wizarding World and find out what they got up to. A few had low paying Ministry jobs but most of them worked crappy dead-end jobs.

I'd found one Muggleborn woman working at the kitchen in Three Broomsticks and she'd been a Hufflepuff Prefect while at school. Rather than marry some Pureblood inbred idiot in order to get a more comfortable life she'd tried to get by on her good school marks, and her willingness to work hard but that had done her no good in the end.

The whole thing made me feel very depressed so I changed subjects.

"Back to business" I declared once more taking my seat as all the pacing was starting to hurt my feet "I will supply the Dwarven smiths with the needed materials and pay them for their labour, and as long as they keep quiet about what they are making they can keep any left over platinum. If the armour they make does its job then they can expect more work".

Neville jotted that all down so that he could write it up in a more formal letter later.

Granger asked "What's so important about mithril armour?".

"Its the only armour that can protect you from the Killing Curse," answered Ginny "or at least that's what people say".

"We'll test it of course" I assured my future concubine "there's no way we're going into battle without knowing how much damage we can take".

"But we need to protect the chosen one" reminded Luna "Harry Potter is in great danger. If we can't defeat Voldemort then he must".

My oath compelled to me to protect the Boy-Who-Lived but while it didn't require me to watch over him twenty-four seven I just had to try and keep him alive. Still it would be best to take some action if only to keep my girlfriend happy.

"Of course my love" I promised while putting my right hand on Luna's left.

I then addressed the rest of the Outcasts.

"Stick close to Potter as best you can," I ordered in my most commanding tone of voice "I'll write to Fudge and ask him about the tasks".

It was about time I started using Fudge as an information source. I could phrase the letter to make it seem as if I was just a curious boy who couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. I'd also ask him if there were ways I could in the future support the Ministry that should hint enough as to the possibility of bribe money to get his interest.

"I thought Luna could foresee things?" questioned the Muggleborn teen to the left of me in sceptical tone of voice.

If I were a psychopathic Dark Lord rather than simply a megalomaniac Dark Lord with a possible mild case of schizophrenia Granger would be on the floor screaming by now.

However while I might be a power hungry mad man at times I knew that while ruling through fear could be rather effective it wasn't the best way to rule as fearful minions can become nothing more then yes men afraid to voice their opinions and there was no point having minions who also acted as advisers if they weren't going to express their views.

Besides Hermione was attracted to me and she also sought my approval, even if she didn't act like it a lot of the time, so showing her my disapproval, via a look, was effective enough and a lot less noisy.

"You planned to wear silk knickers for this meeting but your period started so you had to wear black cotton ones" mentioned Luna "your also planning to spy on Damien using the Marauders Map so you can find how he sneaks out of the school since you still think no one can apperate out of the school despite the fact that you've seen Damien do it".

Hermione went from embarrassment to shock and then back to embarrassment again in the space of a few seconds.

"Luna sees the future but the more distant an event is the less certain it is". I explained.

I also suspected that there were ways to prevent a Seer form seeing certain events as Luna rarely saw anything involving Dumbledore and since nearly everything taking place in the Wizarding world involved Dumbledore in some way that meant Luna could be surprised.

"The tasks might change because arranging them is difficult" I added "for example shipping magical creatures into the country is dangerous if it goes wrong then a new task is needed quickly or they might have a back up plan already in place".

Luna had many things for the First Task but she'd also seen broom races and the champions duelling as well an odd vision which included a scavenger hunt in the Forbidden Forest to find certain items all of which could only be found by solving puzzles written in ancient runes.

If there were different tasks it could be bad so I would have to put some effort into ensuring that the tasks didn't change as the tasks I knew would be child's play to guide Potter through.

Luna's visions would become more certain the longer we waited but that would give me less time to come with a plan to aid Potter, which was it was important for me to get the details from the Minister.

"There's suppose to be four tasks" mentioned Hermione "each one based on one of the four classical elements: fire, earth, water and air".

This years tournament was the first in hundreds of years and organising it must have been a diplomatic nightmare so it came as no surprise that fire and air might be combined in the form of dragon, but that didn't mean it would happen again.

"We can't plan for the tasks if we don't know what they are" pointed out Ginny with hormone driven concern "and we need our armour before we deal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named but there must be something we can do to protect Harry in the meantime".

Lord save me from teenage girl's and their crushes.

"There is" I assured Ginny "you and Hermione can help Potter train, use this room it should be safe enough. Teach him some combat spells as he might need to fight you can research with him too that will help with your training. Aside from that keep him practising what he already knows until we know more about the tasks".

The possibility that I might be helping to make a future enemy more dangerous didn't escape me but I had my oath to fulfil and that oath had gotten Granger to agree to serve me in anyway I saw fit so it was worth it. Plus there was the fact that the prophecy about me said nothing about Potter being an issue it was Dumbledore that stood in my way not Harry. Besides if the Boy-Who-Lived did get in my way I could exile him somewhere safe without violating my vow to protect him.

Next I addressed Neville.

"Nev, once I have the materials we need you can send them to the Dwarves and then you can start work on more potions I'll go back to Skyrim if I have to but we do need more potions not just for the task but in case anyone gets hurt when we're dealing with Voldemort".

Longbottom was getting rather good at basic medical and enhancement potions so he would have no trouble carrying out my orders.

"Luna I need you to enchant some robes for Potter, nothing too fancy but something that can enhance reflexes, maybe add fire resistance and some boots for speed".

Sometime soon I'd have to get her to enchant clothes that the Outcast could wear over the armour. Protection was good but robes that enhanced our fighting skills would be nice to have as well.

"And what will you be doing, Damien?" asked Nev "aside from brown noising the Minister that is".

I really wished he hadn't phrased it that way.

"Quite a bit actually" I told the group "I need to find out what my new sword can do and I also need to find out who would respect the status it gives me if I ever went public with it".

The Wizards wouldn't follow me they were too set in their ways and extremely arrogant but there were many magical races out there and some of them might follow me if I could offer them a better future.

"Its getting late" I commented as I saw Luna try to hide a yawn "you all know what you have to do. We can meet again same time next week".

With that we all left. Luna and I heading for the Bird's Nest while the rest headed for the Lion's Den, but I wasn't going to bed just yet I still had to pop out and see if I could find some more platinum something that wouldn't be easy given rare it was.


	31. Chapter 31

**Reviews **

**Z2010Deadmeat**

I can't see that working because it would destroy the school to create a volcano on the grounds. Thanks for trying anyway, input is always welcome even if it doesn't led to anything.

Damien will start setting up his harem in this chapter but he won't be having sex with anyone but Luna just yet he's only thirteen well fourteen after all. By Christmas (the Yule Ball) he'll be fourteen and fully sexually active but he needs a bit more of a push, and a drink. Really he's mental mature enough he's killed people after all but to be fair he also has a lot on his mind. Taking time to suss out your sexuality isn't a high priority when your a Dark Lord in training, at least not with all the concerns and commitments Damien has.

**tylermech66**

Wizards tend to have something to help them focus the magic as directly channelling magic without a magical focus and/or a spell is what Sorcerers are for.

But unlike a staff or wand Caledfwlch doesn't need to pointed or waved about simply holding it is enough. Aside from that it can 'kill' the undead ,enhance the wielder's fighting skills and its also a dragon slaying sword which would make it rather effective against other thick skinned spell resistant creatures.

Its also a rather plain looking sword but give that its over a thousand years still being in one piece is impressive enough.

**Guest**

Underground could be cool but I'm not sure about the traps not unless I can come up with clues for the champions to solve in order to disarm them. Plus the audience wouldn't see much.

**A W**

Centaurs would follow Damien if the stars told them to I guess.

No to the Goblins they hate humans in this story so they would never have contracted the serve one and if they did Damien wouldn't trust them anyway. Plus you know they're evil.

There's still the Dwarves, but they might follow Damien without caring about a sword just because he's going to make them rich.

There's also the Veela they might want better treatment and Merpeople but they live underwater so they aren't likely to get involved with surface people stuff. As for Werewolves and Vampires, most of the Werewolves ended up on Voldemort side. The Vampires well they drink human to survive what more needs be said. Leprechauns exist as well, but I have no idea what they want. Not that it matters much as if needs be I can just make some races up.

Bringing Dark Elves to Earth. That could work since Damien is making is own kingdom later. I'll give it some thought.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 31.**

**Proudspire Manor. Solitude. Skyrim. **

"I can't believe we didn't think of this sooner" I muttered to myself.

My new wife was too busy hanging a mirror on the wall to notice what that I had said something.

While she was working on putting the finishing touches to the manor house I was resting on the bed. Which was fair since I had worn myself out doing everything required to not only purchase the home but also finding a way to pay for it.

The Wolfskull Cave bit had been easy enough as someone had already cleared it out (I had a good idea as to who had done the job) and by cleared out I meant stripped clean of anything remotely useful, and all evidence of any Necromancy had been removed.

Using my ability to sense the impressions the use magic of magic left behind in an area (an ability useless back at Hogwarts) I'd judged that the cleansing of the cave had happen awhile go and that no one with magical powers had bothered to check the place out, despite the concerned reports of the locals, so I'd honestly been able to report to Falk Firebeard that the cave was clear of any unnatural magics.

After that I'd tried to convince Falk Firebeard to sell me Proudspire Manor. He'd said no claiming that we needed a better reputation before we'd be allowed to purchase property and that a couple of newly-weds Mages didn't have the social standing required either.

A few confundus charms had changed that. With one hand on the hilt on my sword I'd done a passable imitation of a Jedi Mind Trick which had done wonders in getting Luna and I our new home.

I'd paid the full price of course I wasn't a cheat it was just that earning a good reputation in a city isn't as simple as just doing a few quests that helped out the natives. There was more to it than that but I didn't have the time to explore what that was.

Paying for the house had been tricky. Twenty-five thousand gold coins is a lot of money even with the decent exchange rate the moneylenders were offering for my Wizarding Money.

Also it would have been rather difficult to actually gather twenty-five thousand gold coins and then take them to the Blue Palace so what I'd done was to take out a loan from the moneylenders.

The moneylenders weren't a bank as they didn't use the money deposited in their vaults by the general public to make loans.

Instead rich people gave the money for the loans requested by other people and then the moneylenders acted as middle men.

Also deposits made at the moneylenders didn't earn interest, in fact you had to pay quite a bit to keep an account open, but it was worth as the money was secured and it saved me having to lug tons of gold around.

Which I would have had a time getting together anyway but I'd more than enough gold to secure a loan. Even my age hadn't been a concern here as at thirteen years old you were a man in Skyrim. Plus gold is gold at the end of the day and I'd had a bag full of it. So some other rich person had paid for the house and now I had a legal obligation pay them back (plus interest) within a year.

The whole thing was a bit like getting a mortgage only the payments didn't have to be that regular and I could pay off the whole debt in one go if I ever had anything of equal value to sell.

Also like getting a mortgage the moneylenders would repossess the house if I didn't have my debt paid in one years time and they wouldn't go about it nicely, and I wouldn't get the money I had already paid back either.

But given that I had just cast the fidelius charm around the property that wasn't something I'd have to worry about because now no one knew that we owned the property.

The secret was that Damien and Luna Mason owned Proudspire Manor. I'd carefully phrased it as owned because if I used the words live in it might not of worked given that technically we lived in Hogwarts and this manor was a more of a hidden rebel base than a home.

This all meant that as long as Luna didn't go and tell the moneylenders that we owned the manor house they would never seek payment for it.

Also even if the confundus on Firebeard wore off it wouldn't matter because he didn't know who it was that had brought the house but he did know someone had paid for it. He couldn't even claim that we had tricked him into selling the house because he didn't know who it was who had tricked him. Kicking up a fuss about the issue would only make the steward look foolish.

Of course that hadn't stopped me from putting other conventional defences up in order to keep people out as the charm only prevented people from knowing that Luna and I owned the house it didn't stop them knowing that the house existed.

For starters I'd made the manor unplottable which was good because if anyone did managed to find out where we were staying while in Skyrim they'd never be able to tell anyone else about it by showing them a map.

I'd also put up some Muggle repelling charms but I wasn't sure that would actually do anything here because magic seemed to something anyone in Skyrim could learn to use, at least a little of, as long as they had the time and inclination to. So that meant that there weren't really any Muggles to repel.

I was a little worried about thieves breaking in as the charm only protected our identities as home owners, it didn't stop thieves breaking in if their target was the house. The Manor itself could still be seen it was just that no one knew who owned it.

To help deter thieves I'd installed a ward that made it sound as if a large dog was barking when anyone entered the property. That alone should make most burglars think twice.

Even if this place wasn't totally secure it wasn't of great concern and no where could ever be totally secure. The best I could hope for was relatively secure and at least here in Skyrim hidden away behind charms Luna and I would be able to spend time alone without worrying about being caught by teachers. It was only fair given that we were newly-weds we should really get some time alone.

Thinking about it I realised that the wedding had been almost as exhausting as buying this house. Granted it hadn't taken as long since the temple to all eight of the Divines here in Solitude had a priest for each god so we'd been able to get the Mara worshipper willing to marry us quickly enough.

Nora weddings were simply affairs and could be performed quickly when needs be so we'd gotten married on the spot and any inconvenience our rushed wedding might of caused the temple had been smoothed over with a generous donation.

I doubted that it had been Luna's dream wedding (then again knowing Luna she might of actually dreamed about it in a vision) but as we were only legally married in the Empire we could still have a big fancy wedding back in the Wizarding World like we were suppose to once we left school.

We would of waited but if Voldemort had indeed regained we might not be able to get married later because one or even both of us could be dead by then.

Besides it also meant that Luna could lose her virginity. I'd paid for a virgin wife and now I had one, at least for a little while longer.

Noticing that Luna had disappeared I got up with the intent of having a look around for her. Given that this was a manor house it was rather large so simply calling out was rather pointless.

I was about to call for Tizzy, who busy working to install a proper bathroom, so that she could use her magic to take me to Luna, when my attention was drawn to the mirror my new wife had just been hanging up.

It was one of Merlin's relics like the Round Table but I hadn't yet figured out what it did, but for some reason I got the feeling that it was like the talking mirror in Snow White. It was a bit silly to think that but it was easily testable.

"Mirror, mirror upon the wall. Who is the most powerful Wizard of them all?"

To my surprise my reflection vanished and the faint outline of a face appeared inside the mirror which then answered my question.

"_A great Wizard you might be, but I see three Wizards in the land more powerful than thee". _

The mirror showed me three Wizards and this time I wasn't surprised since it wasn't hard to guess who they were. Assuming that they were in order of power I was still outmatched by Potter, Dumbledore and then Voldemort.

Wait something was wrong.

"Why did you show the three most powerful Wizards in the UK if we're in Skyrim shouldn't you of told me about the most powerful Wizards in this world?"

"_I was created by Merlin as you can tell, only to answer questions about the land where he dwell". _

Ah so this Mirror could supply information about what was going in Britain. That made it a bit limited but given that I was British and that I happened to live in Britain most of the time it was still a handy thing to fhave.

Plus it had just hinted that Merlin was still in the British Isle, that was also very good to know. Perhaps the mirror even knew where Merlin was.

"Where is Merlin?"

_The most powerful of Wizards is hidden from me, I could not even show him in the list you did see._

The mirror wasn't rhyming very well. Either the enchantments were wearing off or it the mirror wasn't putting much effort into its speech. Not that I would blame it for being lazy, if I'd been answering questions in rhyme for hundreds of years I'd get sick of it too. It was probably just trying to answer my questions as simply and quickly as possible.

"So how were you made?" I inquired, wanting to know it had an actual personalty.

_Apologies my lord but rules there be, each day you may only ask three questions of me. _

Thankfully Luna returned at this point. Ignoring the fact that she was wearing an oversized nightgown I told her to ask the mirror my last question so I could get an answer.

Luna asked and then looked at me before saying.

"He says he was demon and that Merlin trapped him in the mirror as punishment for what he had done to some Muggles".

Given I didn't hear the demoniacally possessed mirror answer Luna I deduced that the information it supplied was only given to the person asked the question. That was a good security feature and it was further proof that Merlin deserved his title of The Prince of Enchanters.

"Granny Weatherwax taught me how to summon demons so that they could be questioned" informed Luna "getting confusing answers is pretty normal, but this fiend is rather helpful".

Perhaps the demon thought we might free it if it was well behaved and helpful. Unfortunately for the creature there was no chance of that ever happening. I was far too clever to ever do something that stupid.

Rather than ask any other questions Luna turned the mirror around so that its silver back was facing us. Which was odd for her as she wasn't the shy type.

I'd been about to ask her why she'd done that when the oversized nightgown she was wearing suddenly met the floor. She had nothing on underneath. She also happen to be bare down there which was nice.

Naked Luna was nothing new to me but given that we had just gotten married and that this was our honeymoon (well sort of) I didn't need three questions in order to find out what she had in mind.

I was further clued in when she went to the bed and laid down with her legs spread giving me a good view of what I had access to since now that I'd made her into an honest woman. Not that she would of refused me access to her body before now but the marriage made me feel better about the whole thing.

"Take me oh Dark Lord" she requested in very dramatic voice that was more suited to the stage than the bedroom. "Oppress me Dark One" she then begged "make me your concubine and slake your lust with my willing body".

Only Luna Lovegood (and possibly Bellatrix Lestrange) would think that being oppressed by a Dark Lord was in anyway romantic. Then again I'd never met a teenage girl who had any idea what a healthy romance actually was so perhaps she wasn't really that weird compared to her peers.

Since I'd only been wearing boxers anyway there was no need to get undressed so I simply climbed on top of my new wife and started to kiss her.

Luna who was amazingly enthusiastic about all this did her very best to try and wrap her tongue around my uvula. Normally such a thing would be rather unpleasant given that I still needed to breathe but what she was currently doing with one of her hands more than made up for it.

Until now I'd not had much desire to play with naked Luna despite how often I saw her in the nude. This was because while mentally I might be twice my current age having memories of being a mature adult isn't the same thing as being a mature adult. I just hadn't felt the right emotions for sex until recently and even then I'd been feeling a little shy about this sort of thing despite the fact that I'd fought in a battle and even killed a few people. I'd of thought that would of made things like sex seem rather unimportant in comparison, but that turned not to be the case.

At least now I wasn't having any problems and clearly Luna was more than ready, in fact she was more eager than me.

A sign of this was my wife's frantic tugging at my boxer shorts I aided with their removal and before I could do more than moan in pleasure I was inside her feeling a hot tightness around my cock.

Luna was a tiny thing with a petite form that made her seem far more childlike and innocent than she actually was that my dick could even fit inside her was a miracle of biology especially given the fact that while I was only a bit above average in size I had a rather thick manhood. Luna really should of found the whole experience painful but she seemed only slightly uncomfortable. Also given that her arms were around me holding me close she obviously didn't want me to stop.

I pushed deeper inside her and met resistance. Luna was wet enough not to be too bothered by this but I guessed that she'd bleed a little after this.

Still I knew that she must have been prepared for this so I went in deeper making her whimper a little but she just held on tighter which would of made it tricky to withdraw anyway. I took it as a sign that she didn't want me to stop.

Technically I was losing my 'innocence' as well but I could remember taking a girl's virginity well enough to know that it could made easier by distracting the woman from one pain by introducing another.

With a lot of effort I focused my attention on biting down on Luna's neck just hard enough that that the pain would be distracting to the point were she it would make her ignore the pain in her cunt, but not so hard that it drew blood.

She seemed to like the attention rather than freak out as some girls might and I knew that it would leave her with an impressive love bite. It was a bit like I was marking my territory but Luna wouldn't mind as she couldn't wear her wedding ring back home so marking her in another way would help to make up for that. Plus I was the Dom in this relationship, so it was about time I started to act like one.

Not that this stopped Luna from trying to return the favour. That wasn't the sort of thing I enjoyed it wasn't in my nature to be marked by another animal but I let her do it anyway.

Once she was done making my neck wet I started to slowly fuck my partner in crime (Not that this was illegal in Skyrim what with the age of consent here being thirteen) this course of action made my lover unable to do anything but hold onto me and moan.

The parts of my mind not totally devoted to the fact that I was having sex had enough metal power left to wonder if there was a potion or spell to make it easier for a Witch to lose their virginity, but I couldn't muster up the effort to ask and it was doubtful that Luna could of answered anyway.

As soon as I was sure that I wouldn't make my wife scream the manor house down if I picked up the pace I started to pound what must be a very sore cunt faster than before.

I had to because at the rate things were going we wouldn't be done in time to get back to school in order to watch the First Task.

Thankfully Luna was okay with his and soon I was fucking her in a way that would get me cumming some time soon.

It was then that something that could be important later registered in my brain, it was one of the few things that could actually get a man to worry about reaching climax, unless he was past the point of no return.

Luna seemed to sense my concern, perhaps because I'd slowed down, and she assured me that it was okay because she had taken the potion. What this potion was I hadn't a clue as the Wizarding World had a rather Victorian mindset about sex and men were never told about contraception it was left to the woman, so I just had to trust that Luna had dealt with the issue.

Feeling assured I relaxed, stopped thinking and let myself try to reach climax more quickly than I really should have given that the first time should be special. Not that my partner seemed to mind and I knew from experience that not all women have orgasms that are noticeable until you learn to read the signs. Any girl who shared a dorm room and wasn't sexually repressed would learn to cum without making noise.

I quickly discovered what Luna signs were. Despite the fact that I already cum at this point I still had a little time before my erection ended so I hadn't yet withdrawn. Luna moved her neck so I could bite her on the other side and when I did I felt a gushing warmness coat my cock. I now knew that Luna needed a little pain mixed with the pleasure in order to climax when with me, next time I'd remember that and it would be better than before or at least the time after that would be as in order to get use to sex a girl who'd just lost her virginity needed to fuck a couple of more times before he body would adapt to intercourse.

Rolling over I let Luna rest while I checked my watch as its easy to lose time when your having fun.

"Fuck!" I swore rather loudly.

"Please not now Master" replied Luna "I need to rest".

I had no idea if that was Luna's attempt at humour or not but it didn't matter right now.

"No I mean we're late" I told my now deflowered wife "the First Task is going to start in less than half an hour".

We needed to be there in case anything Luna hadn't been able to foresee happened like say a Death Eater attack or an assassination attempt on Potter. My oath compelled me and so did my desire for a harem, there was no way Hermione was going to let me take her 'innocence' if I let her friend get hurt.

"Get dressed" I ordered "and quickly, we need to go as in now".

Amazingly Luna only took moments longer to dress that I did but given that she was going commando and braless it should of taken her less time than it did.

As soon as we were both clothed and had our equipment safely stored in our mokeskin pouches I used the Portal Spell to take us home hoping that nothing bad happened while we were away.

Author Note.

Damien's Harem

Luna

Its a start.


	32. Chapter 32

**Reviews**

**Z2010Deadmeat**

The school hosts the tournament plus its a lot of work to set something like that without Muggles noticing but the school grounds are already set up to keep Muggles away.

**Warsage. **

Hermione joins the harem in the next chapter. I figured the Yule Ball was when she would let her down, so to speak, and also try some vodka.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 32.**

**Hogwarts School Grounds. Audience Stands. The Wizarding World. **

As soon as Luna and I found the other Outcast we moved a short distance away from the rest of the audience without a word being spoken, it was second nature for us and I didn't even have to think about applying the privacy charm it was all automatic.

Once all five of us had sat down on the at the end of the least used of the stands Neville asked me a question.

"Having a nice birthday, Damien?".

I'd plain forgotten the date so it took me a moment to process what Nev was asking.

"Actually it was" I replied while grinning like an idiot "I brought a house".

Among doing other things.

"How can you have brought a house?" questioned Hermione whose attention was mostly focused on her friend's aerial acrobatics "your under-age".

My focus was also on the display above as the First Task was based on the element of air. The task was more complex than a mere broom race, although that was part of what was going on, it was sort of an obstacle course as well.

The champions had fly between hoops and avoid spells meant to knock them off course. If a champion missed a hoop they slowed down as the hoops seemed to cause brooms to sped up, but it wasn't just about who went the fastest as the hoops formed a sort of race track that was curved so the flyers had to fly fast and keep themselves on course while at the same trying to avoid mid-air collisions with each other and the odd spell thrown their way.

"Not in Skyrim I'm not" I explained "its mostly a medieval society and so the idea of a teenager doesn't exist there, you got from child to young adult at thirteen with nothing in between".

Granger was a bright girl but all of her advanced learning was based around the Magic world not the Muggle world. I however had a more well rounded eduction including in sociology. Knowing this I explained some more hoping that a small lecture would help her grasp what I was taking about.

"Before the start of the 20th teenagers didn't really exist. There were young people between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, but there was nothing to set them apart from children or adults no social identity, so you were either a child or an adult the idea that you could be in-between just didn't register because there was no need".

Aside from myself and my Muggleborn friend the rest of the Outcasts had been home schooled, so they didn't have the same understanding of the Muggle world's history that Hermione and I did, but this didn't stop them from listening to everything I was saying.

"It wasn't until education became wide spread that people began to see how children in different age groups acted in large numbers over time. Some children did go to school but once they could work they worked and most education children got was either from tutors if they were rich or the odd church run school if they were middle class"

Sociology had never been my best subject during my second year at college so I didn't think I was explaining myself very well

"Poor kids got the least education but once the law said they had to go to school and so schools had to be built. Once they started building High Schools, and Hogwarts is a lot like a Muggle High School in some ways, people started to noticed teenagers and that they weren't really children or adults".

Part of the reason was also marketing. Businesses that relied on things like fashions and music trends to make money had noticed that teenagers had a culture of their own, and that this new culture wanted things. It also helped that teenagers had more money to spend that younger children this made it more worth while to try and sell things marketed to teenagers.

I wasn't to explain that part as Wizards didn't have a consumer culture, at least not in the way Muggles did, but only because they didn't have the population for it.

"But they don't have schools in Skyrim" realised Neville who had despite his lack of Muggle education grasped where I was going with all this talk "I remember because you explained about apprenticeships and higher eduction".

Nice to know my lectures weren't falling on deaf ears.

"So if you don't have schools like Hogwarts you don't have teenagers" summarised Ginny "your a kid until you get a job".

It was more complex than that but the creation of High Schools was the single most important factor in the creation of teenagers. Skyrim and England up until the industrial revaluation weren't really that different. Nord culture was one built around a life that was both harsh and short. You simply had to get married and start making babies at thirteen otherwise you wouldn't be around to see your grandchildren born, and that only happened if you were lucky.

"Which is about the age of thirteen" I explain further "kids do work with their parents before that but in Skyrim at thirteen they become adults. Then they learn a trade from someone else, join a ship's crew or even the army".

Not even the Stormcloaks would go as far as to ask a child to fight but armies needed a lot support staff in order to keep them going and child soldiers are more common than people think.

"That's not what I meant" corrected Granger "you could buy a house in the Wizarding World if you wanted but you can't get at the money until your seventeen".

I felt a little silly now as my lecture had been pointless. Because I felt foolish my answer was both short and a little angry sounding.

"I applied for a mortgage".

The Purebloods around me looked totally confused, so I softly sighed and explained myself yet again while somewhat regretting that I had cultivated followers who actually expressed their opinions and questioned me.

"A mortgage is like borrowing money, someone who has money gives it to you and you use it buy a house. Then you pay the person you borrowed the money from back a little bit at a time plus a bit extra it to make worth while for whoever loaned you the money".

If only taking out a loan really was that simple.

"What happens if you can't pay the money back?" asked Ginny.

"Whatever you brought with the money becomes the property of whoever gave you the loan and they get to keep any money you did pay back".

Well that was how it worked in Skyrim but the Nords were simple folk who wouldn't go for a complex economic system.

"Maybe you should give out mortgages" suggested Neville "not for houses but people need to borrow money and if they have to pay the loan back with a little extra your family fortunes would increase".

"Could I do that?" I asked my best friend.

"Course you can" he replied "your a Mason"

Hermione as she sometimes did gave a more complete answer either because she wanted to be helpful or because she simply wanted to show off how much knowledge she had.

"Like many of the old Pureblood families the Mason family specialised in certain businesses which are the bases of their family fortunes".

"My families were weapon merchants" said Nevilee.

I'd of called them magical gunrunners myself.

"Mine did farming" supplied Ginny "but we lost them".

I didn't know how someone lost a farm and I had no desire to ask.

"Love potions" was Luna's.

Not surprising given the name.

"The Potters were craftsmen. The Malfoys were land owners," said the Muggleborn Witch after she was interrupted "which is your business now, but you also have your family businesses which was construction".

The Purebloods had been about to say something when the stands came alive with cheers. Fleur had dropped out of the race ,in the literal sense, but she'd been caught by some sort air cushion so she was fine. Oddly everyone seem disappointed by that.

"Still is really" informed Neville "but what your family is most famous for is being inventors. The Masons got most of their wealth while the Statue of Secrecy was being set up as they did stuff like help build the Ministry and moved lots of Wizard homes away from Muggles. But after that the Masons didn't get much work so they became inventors".

"I knew that last part" I told the group "I just don't much care about my family history".

"You should" argued Luna "especially now".

Yes she was right I now had a family again. Luna was technically a Mason now and would be on this world as well in just a few years.

Also as she was Xeno's only heir that meant that anything that was Lovegood would be partly mine legally. Well at least it would be once Xeno was dead or retired, then Luna would oversee the Quibbler and the side business which really just a small amount of paperwork needed to allow businesses to sell potions the Lovegoods had invented.

However because Luna wanted to be oppressed by her Dark Lord she considered herself and anything she owned to be mine so one day, assuming all went well, I'd have control over three family fortunes.

"The Mason family invents things" enforced Granger "its a tradition and those are as important as laws in the Wizarding World. Your the one person in the country who can introduce new things without having to worry much about getting approval".

"Its my Dad's department at works handles that" informed Ginny "its part of his job to approve new products that are based on Muggle ideas".

This was why flying carpets had been banned by his department.

Not that it really had anything to do with flying carpets being Muggle artefacts it was about protecting broom manufacturers who were needed because broom sales were heavily taxed and the Ministry needed that money. Also Wizarding Britain didn't have the population to fully fund the Ministry so it relied heavily on taxing exports. British brooms were one of things that everyone in Magical Europe brought so it was understandable why they pressured the ICW to ban Magic Carpets across Europe.

For me this meant that if I did introduce Wizarding versions of Muggle products I'd have to get approval from the Ministry or to be more percise Ginny's Dad so that my family inventions didn't threaten the existing economical set up.

"Its also why the Gillyweed potion had to be our invention" reminded Nev "if I'd tried to sell it myself I would have had to register the potion with the Ministry but the Mason name gets around that, its only stuff based on Muggle inventions that you have to worry about".

"Which they don't care much about because what your family came up with was mostly fads" added Hermione.

I burst out laughing as I realised what this meant. I could deal in trends or even start them introducing Muggle ideas and passing them off as my own. But it wasn't all good news.

"So my idea about House Elf Parcel Force might get shot down because it threatens the Owl Order Service, but it doesn't matter because I could start up my loan agency and no one would do a thing about it by the time the Ministry figures it out the Purebloods won't be able to stop me!"

One of the differences between this Wizarding World and the cannon one was that Hermione Granger didn't seem to care one bit about House Elves. I had no idea why this was and I didn't want question it case it led to her starting up SPEW so I hadn't expected her to kick up a fuss but I'd of thought that she was realise what sort of power loaning money would give me. Then I remembered that was she fifteen and that all her money came from her parents.

"Guys, I could get the Muggleborns both in debt to me and get them into Wizard homes. The Malfoys owned lots of land and that's now mine I can rent that land to whoever I want and hire the Dwarves to build houses on it. Then the Muggleborns can get mortgages from me. It would take years for them to pay for the houses but once they do they can pass them on to their children. Then no Muggleborn would have to marry a Pureblood just so they can live in the Wizarding World full time".

They still didn't quite get what this all meant so I kept going and got louder since it looked like Cedric Diggory was getting tired of flying his broom. This was stirring up the audience as there was a chance he might fall to his death soon.

"Hermione you could never buy a home in the Wizarding World because no Pureblood with land to develop would ever sell one to you, and couldn't anyway as you don't have the money, but if I could give you a mortgage you could buy a house that's both connected to the Floo network and it would no where near any Muggles so you practice magic freely".

Luna who by now must of seen this possible future chimed in.

"The Purebloods would never borrow money from Damien as he's a Halfblood and even the ones who don't care that he's not one of them would be too proud to do that sort of thing anyway, but a few Halfbloods and Muggleborns would if given the chance want to buy a nice house so they can live away from Muggles".

"Mum's always wanted a bigger house" mentioned Ginny "but we can't afford one unless we could sell ours and the land we own".

"Your family has land?" I asked.

Ginny nodded and was about to say something when Cedric came in for a controlled landing. Much to disappointment of the crowd.

That left only Krum and Harry left and neither were slowing down. The flyer one that kept going the longest would get the most points so it was a matter of endurance now not just skill and given that Krum was a professional flyer and that Harry might as well have been born with wings they could both be up there for a while. Cedric had lasted a while but just hadn't been good enough.

When the crowd quietened Ginny answered finally answered my question.

"Yes and if my Dad could sell it we could pay for a bigger home to be built but no one wants it, there's no demand for land. Even with have an orchid left over from when the family were farmers but the Malfoys were the only family with a reason to buy an orchid".

Even putting aside the rivalry between the two families there was no reason for the Malfoy's to buy that land. With no population growth why would there be, but I could find a use for that land. There were bound to be Muggleborns out there who would love an orchid for a back garden.

Also the Borrow was really too small for a large family but from what I'd been told it was odd looking but also it was a nice, quiet place to live in far from other people but not too far. It would be much more suitable to say a couple of newly married Muggleborns looking for their first home.

"Ginny tell your Dad that once I'm seventeen I'll buy the land and house from the him ,or he can use them as collateral".

Naturally Ginny had no understanding of secured loans so I offered an explanation.

"A secured loan is a loan in which the borrower pledges some sort of asset, say like a car, a house or even land as collateral for the loan. This means that if he can't repay the loan I'd get the land but only the land not the house so I'd either have to buy the house or just let him skip payments until he has the money".

"But he couldn't afford it if he could he would of gotten a loan from Gringotts".

So Gringotts did give out loans. I hadn't known that or at least I didn't remember hearing about it.

"Yes but I won't charge him interest or take the house if your Dad didn't pay me back. Since I'd be giving the loan out of my own money he can pay me back only as much as he can afford to. I'd be in no rush to get the money back".

Ginny seemed to realise that this was a favour to her and she looked grateful for the offer at least, still she had concerns.

"I'm not sure anyone would buy the Burrow" she pointed out "its not exactly a mansion".

"I'll also tell him about subletting a property".

Or would I be the one subletting the property? Not that it really mattered as I'd be making the rules.

"That all very generous" remarked Hermione who wasn't as naïve about money as I'd thought "you wouldn't make any money but Mr Weasly would own you a big favour".

"If he approves my loan agency and then takes a loan then it will generate interest" I pointed out "you can't pay for word of mouth advertising and its the best form of advertising I could ask for since no one watches television in the Wizarding World".

Well there was the wireless but I had no connections to whoever ran that. Which was a same because there was a Muggleborn market out there who would love to her some Muggle music now and again.

"Dad would tell everyone in the Ministry" assured Ginny "they wouldn't get as good of a deal but a few people would inquire and they'd tell other people".

"Still I can't see you making much money out of this" remarked Granger.

Of course it wouldn't but that had never been the point. She'd figure out and tell everyone so there was no point in hiding it.

"As I said before if I give mortgages to Muggleborns they will be in debt to me," I reminded "so if they missed a payment I can demand something from them. It wouldn't allow me to make them rebels like us but I could have them do something like turn up at a protest, boycott certain products cancel their subscription to the Daily Prophet and buy one for the Quibbler, make them read the Outcast newsletter, sign petitions or even just let them pay me back with some work I need doing. Nothing illegal but I might need help with future projects".

Hermione actually stopped watching her friend flying and turned to me.

"That might work you could heavily influence the government using your money in a lot of ways".

Bribes worked wonders.

"But can you afford it?" asked Neville "I mean my families rich but you need more money than anyone has to buy up all the unused land and houses. The Goblins won't give up what little property they have".

"The Malfoys have the land I need and the Goblins are greedy they will sell if I can pay and with two family fortunes I can".

My term plans involved getting rid of the Goblins and putting the Dwarves in their place, but that was years away. I still needed to get a Dwarf clan to follow me and that would take some work.

Plus with access to other worlds I could make a killing in the trading business. Magical Nord relics for rich Purebloods. Muggle luxury for the Imperials of Nirn. There were many fortunes to made.

"Anyway" I said to all the Outcasts "this is all years away we have other concerns at the moment".

"Like getting Harry through this tournament" said Hermione with firmness in her voice.

"Yes" I agreed "we got lucky with this air race thing. Air is Potter's element for sure, but next time we might actually need to get involved".

Thankfully I knew what the other tasks were going to be so I could scheme and plot to my heart's content.

The next task would also be quite easy to plan for as it was the Water Task and the same as cannon so that meant the Black Lake and hostages. Potter just needed a few Gillyweed potions some spells that worked well underwater and luck. That last one he had in spades.

His hostage would be Ginny I was sure for that as they were at the stage me and Luna were at until we'd openly started dating. Harry and Ginny were the only people who didn't know they were a couple.

The Earth Task worried me a little and the details I'd gotten from Fudge about the Fire Task were rather vague as the event wasn't fully prepared for yet.

Luna gave me a look and then sort of nudged me towards Hermione before saying.

"Don't forget the Yule Ball. We'll all need to be there with Harry".

Wait was I suppose to invite Hermione? I couldn't go to a ball with her I was married now having arm candy for fancy parties was what Purebloods wives were for, well that and supplying heirs.

At times like this I really wished that Wizards could read minds but even I did know Legilimency it wouldn't help because Luna's mind was far too complex.

I'd just have to wing it.

"Right so I'll be going with Luna naturally. Ginny can go with Harry and play bodyguard. Neville can go with...".

"I'm going with Hannah and Susan" Neville informed "well with Hannah, Susan and her date".

For a second there I mused on the idea of two dates but Hermione threw a spanner into the works.

"Victor Krum, already asked me"

Oh hell no. My future concubine was not going to the Yule ball with fricking Krum.

"You can't your on team Harry" the youngest Weasly argued saving me the effort "going with Krum is like saying you want him to win".

"I want Harry to survive and I don't care if he wins" Granger countered

"Luna tell Herm about the vision you had about Krum".

Luna took a second to catch on but she knew what I meant.

"He's going to attack Cedric in the last task he'll use the Torture Curse".

Possibly because a Death Eater will make him do it but a half truth served better here.

"But he's nice" protested the Muggleborn girl.

"Cheating is a traditional part of the Tournament" I told the teen "he might only of asked you to the Ball get information about Harry".

For a second I'd thought I might of gone to far but it was just far enough until Neville said.

"He goes to a school that actually teaches the Dark Arts and they don't accept Muggleborns, he wouldn't take a Muggleborn to the ball unless it was to get some some sort of advantage".

Hermione looked to be on the verge of tears and I couldn't blame her because no one else would ask her because of the ratio between boys and girls at the school had shifted to favour the girls and she'd never shown boys other than Ron and Harry much notice.

"All the Durmstrang boys are Purebloods elitists" I explained to the upset teen not caring that Krum might be an exception "that's why they sit at the Slytherin table when in the great hall".

"The whole school is like if Hogwarts only had Slytherin house" said Ginny throwing in her two cents.

"You could be Damien's other date" offered Luna who had been thinking about this the whole time "two girls on his arm would be quite nice for him, he might not be the only one since there's a lack of boys in the school".

That would let me show off. Two dates take that anyone who doubts my manhood. Mwahahahaahhaha.

"Its that or maybe a third year" suggested Ginny who suddenly found herself in pain as Luna stepped on her foot.

"Would that even be allowed?" asked Hermione who seemed to like the idea judging by the smile she was giving me.

"The only rule about dates is that you can invite someone in third year to the Ball if they're your date" I replied "besides were rebels were met to break rules and upset the establishment. Its like our job".

That seemed to cheer Granger up, she was quite the rebel once you stripped of her affection for authority figures and I'd managed to bring it out of her without Umbridge being around.

That reminded me I did still needed to kill that horrid toad woman sometime soon and it had to be more than a simple death. Maybe I'd feed her to a Vampire or tie to a tree during in the forest during on a night with a full moon.

"Okay" agreed the teenage Witch "I'll be the third wheel but I get you all to myself for the first dance".

It weren't for the fact that I couldn't dance I'd agree to that term.

"I want a dance too" demanded Luna "so that means you need to learn to dance. I'll enchant your dress robes extra agility on the shoes and charisma on the robes. You'll look great".

Extra charisma on top of my enhanced charisma that could end up with me in bed with both girls at the end of the night. Which might be Luna's plan come to think of it.

"Fine but someone will have to teach me dance, and I'll need booze lots of booze".

Vodka I had to get my hands on some vodka.

The crowd roared as Potter and Krum rammed into each other at incredible speeds and then went crashing down into the crowd. My oath compelled me to take action but I never got the chance to do more than stand up and reach for my wand before air cushions caught them both. Comically Krum slipped off his invisible air cushion and then fell the ground face first.

"It worked" whispered Neville.

I pulled him aside and asked.

"What worked?".

Neville was smiling like a fool.

"I remembered that you wanted Krum to look bad so I coated malaclaw venom on my stinging cactus, just a little bit so that it wasn't noticeable and then I got Ginny to give it to him to hold while she looked for a quill so he could sign one of her books. The cactus stung him. Its my birthday present to you, mate".

Malaclaw venom once it made contact with human skin gave that person bad luck, it was rarely fatal but it made accidents more likely and if something could go badly wrong it would more often than not.

"Oh Neville your first solo prank, I'm so proud" I said while patting him on the back "you've really made this a good birthday".

It didn't compared to taking a girl virginity, but still it was awesome to see Krum's blooded face.

"Bet your glad your not going to the Ball with him now" said Gin to Herm.

Granger had nothing to say in reply.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author Note:** originally this was going to be two chapters but I could write about the Yule ball without feeling like a complete sissy so I combined the next two chapters into one. Made for a rushed second marriage but young people are foolish. Plus I do need to keep this story moving.

**Reviews **

**tylermech66**

Actually he has a bit to go yet.

I don't think Damien would go after the Muggle world. Its too big and its not part of the prophecy. Remember he's not doing everything he does for himself his long term goal is a better Wizarding World.

Besides starting up his own Kingdom on another world would allow him to become a ruler much more quickly and it would also allow him to create a society more to his liking.

**Winter Feline**

I don't really like Krum either, not sure why I just simply don't like him.

**Lord Edric **

Well he has other plans for that house but yeah its pretty much a love nest for now.

I might be able to make use of a lava pit idea. The Weasly twins made portable swamps so we know that magic can be used to create an artificial environments over a small area.

**douchiesnacks**

You got that right Luna is going to be a total nymphomaniac. Well she was always was in this story, that was the reason for her wanting to be in a harem.

Tell me about it! Goblins are at best indifferent to humans and at worse they are treacherous, greedy monsters.

Also you have to take into account that the Magical creatures in Harry Potter's world are based mostly on fairy tales. In that world fairy tale creatures act like you'd expect to them to. Monsters like trolls, giants and dragons are monsters and they act like monsters do in stories. Never once in my childhood did I ever hear a story featuring Goblins when they weren't the monsters.

Centaurs aren't really that bad, at least when compared to Goblins, they dislike humans for a valid reasons and the only person badly treated by them was Umbridge who lets face it deserved what she got. Harry was saved by a Centaur in the first book so it balances out as them being star gazing jerks reluctant to get involved, but that doesn't make them evil.

Indeed Dwarfs are awesome.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 33.**

******The Great Hall. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

Despite the fact that I was wearing an outfit that made me feel as if I had dressed up as Christopher Lee's Dracula for Halloween I was actually having a rather good time at the Yule Ball.

Both Luna and Hermione were wearing stunning dresses and they had both gone to great lengths to make themselves look very pretty. Best off all no one had anything negative to say about Loony Lovegood and Know-It-All Granger, which was a very good thing indeed as I would of cursed anyone daring enough to criticise my secret wife and soon to be concubine.

Not that Luna or Herm needed me to defend them as they were both very powerful and talented Witches who between knew more spells than even I did, but it would of spoiled the evening if I had to curse anyone.

Currently the powerful Witch and Seer who I was married to had her head buried in my chest as we danced. She wasn't that tall (or short for that matter) so her hair was tickling my nose as we danced.

I guessed that we must look to be quite the cute couple as a few of the teachers were subtly looking at us and whispering. Judging by the smiles on their faces they seemed to like what they saw. A few had commented on the fact that I had two dates but it seemed to have amused the adults for some reason.

Personally I was just glad for my power of enhanced charisma, that magical gift was becoming more and more potent as I got older.

I could see it in effect right now as despite how silly I must of looked no one was laughing at my still somewhat clumsy dance moves, although a of the few girls did look really jealous.

And why shouldn't they be?

I might not be the most handsome lad around, Diggory had me beat there, but I was the richest and perhaps the most magically talented of the boys in school. The only person more well known in the student body was the Boy-Who-Lived. Add to that my aloofness and slightly dark demeanour and it wasn't surprising that I was making a few young ladies weak at the knees.

"Its too warm in here" said my date who might have been sensing the envy "lets go outside".

A few couples were already out there enjoying the winter air which was a refreshing change from the sheer amount of heat inside the castle.

Luna gently tugged on my arm as we headed out in the darkness. We both stumbled a bit but soon we found our way to somewhere we could be alone and I used my opera cloak like coat to give us somewhere dry to sit.

"Master, I want to do something for you" said Luna.

It was to dark to see what she was doing but I figured it out as my belt was soon being undone and my trouser buttons followed suite.

"Luna" I whispered "what are you doing".

It wasn't a question since I had a fair idea of what she was doing but I was answered anyway.

"What do you think" answered the voice of Hermione who must of followed us out "we're going to have some fun".

My mouth nearly opened to protest that idea but then I remembered HAREM! HAREM! HAREM! and I was able to stop myself.

Luna's hand gently rubbed my dick which got me nice and hard, not that I needed much coaxing. Then she told me to lie down and I did as she said, which was odd as I was normally the one to give orders around here.

Her head moved and she started sucking me off. I'd been sucked off before now, just not in this body, and Luna's technique was amateur, which it should be she'd never done this before, so once I got use to her enthusiasm I gave her some encouragement and instructed her on how to make the experience more pleasing for me. She listened but she also gently chided me for not lying down to enjoy myself.

"I'll get plenty of practice" promised my wife once she stopped sucking in order to play with my erection "but I'm not the only one who wants to play. A Dark Lord should have at least one concubine. Hermione wants to apply for the job ".

Luna was the kind of girl who meant what she said so if she said I should have a concubine I'd get one. Even future Dark Lords listen to the wife.

Hermione was giggling at this point and didn't seem remotely worried by Luna's use of the words 'Dark Lord' nor was she offended when she was referred to as a 'concubine'.

That might have had something to do with the silver flask she was holding. The flask was rather special as it was my original first creation rather than something I brought from a shop nor was it an object I'd enchanted using Skyrim magic.

In order to create the item I'd cast a number of charms on the flask that made it not only unnoticeable, but also extended the internal space and it partly refilled when the lid was closed. None of that had been easy spellwork and I was rather proud of it.

It was also full of vodka. That was the important part.

Given her drunken state it could be argued that I was taking advantage of young Miss. Granger but given that she was currently pinning me down for a kiss it could be said that she was taking advantage of me.

I didn't think she'd actually drank that much as her breathe didn't smell too bad, but it seemed to be enough to stop her worrying about being a good girl for once. Being a rebel certainly suited the Muggleborn Witch and I knew that even if she was only planning on being a bad girl tonight that I would be able to get to misbehave again. It was just a matter of encouraging her the right way and she'd finally accept her place as my concubine.

Then I could start working on corrupting the Carrow twins, which should only take a few hours given that they weren't the nicest of young people.

"My turn" stated Hermione who took over from Luna.

It was too dark to see what either Witch was doing but I could infer from context. Both girls seemed to be taking turns in sucking me off and clearly Granger had been listening when I had told Luna had to make the experience more pleasant as there was very little difference in their techniques.

"This isn't as bad as I thought it would be," remarked Hermione as she rubbed me off "its a lot more fun than it looks".

That statement made me wonder when Hermione had seen a girl make a guy cum, but I decided not to ask as it might ruin the mood.

"You should try having sex with him" suggested Luna "Damien is very good at it".

While it was nice to know such things it was rather annoying to be talked about as if I wasn't there.

"I want to wait until I'm married" said Hermione to Luna.

She'd never given that impression before, but the declaration didn't mean she wouldn't fool around me with me it just meant I wouldn't be fucking her.

"Then get married" suggested Luna "Damien married me on another world so you can too just on a different one. Then its okay to be his sex slave".

"Well I guess that would be okay" decided Hermione.

I couldn't for the life of me understand why marriage would make any woman feel better about becoming a sex slave.

Although thinking on it concubinage was a sort of marriage. In some cultures rich men would marry a woman whose social status matched his own for the purpose of providing them with heirs. Then he could marry a woman of lower statues and set her up in another household so she could give him more children. However those children would not be the official heirs so they wouldn't inherit his lands and titles

Hermione could be considered a lesser wife because of her blood status. Given how smart she was and how skilled with magic she'd become it was unfair, but Luna was the Pureblood and because the Masons were an old family Luna and I social equals despite my Halfblood status which was ignored most of the time due to my wealth.

Perhaps Hermione knew that too.

A some point the enchanted flask had been returned to my hand and after gaining a little Dutch courage I said.

"Herm, I know a place where we could married".

There was a world I'd considered visiting for a while now, but I just hadn't gotten around to it.

Now I had a very good reason to visit despite the danger.

"Well let's go now!" the Muggleborn Witch decided for all of us.

I was about to refuse as I wanted to get sucked off but she made it worth my while.

"Then we can have sex whenever you wanted, you could even put it up my bum"

That was hard to refuse and I was glad to know that slutty Granger was still around.

"I'd like a threesome" said Luna "and if were both married to you, then its not cheating if we all sleep together, even if other girls join in".

What kind of insane woman logic was that?

Ah what the hell two wives wasn't so bad I'd just have to set them up in different houses once we all left school. I'd stick Herm in the Malfoy Manor that would make dear cousin Draco spin in his grave, his dad too if he hadn't cremated himself.

Luna would naturally go to Mason Mansion as she was the first wife and the Pureblood. In fact in this world she'd be my only wife but having mistresses wasn't uncommon in this world so having my second wife living in the manor would only offend the bigots.

"Okay fine give me a moment then we'll go" I said while straightening myself out.

"I'll be staying here," informed my soon to be first wife rather than only "one of us should stick close to Neville in case Hannah breaks him".

I had no idea what that meant but I trusted Luna to take care of things for a few hours.

"You should get rid of that ladybug!" she shouted as I grabbed a slightly tipsy Hermione around the waist and cast the portal spell.

What ladybug?

Brightwall Academy. Albion. The World Of Fable.

"The library is closed by order of the King. We don't serve drinks. We don't sell chicken feed. Please leave, before the soldiers suspect you of gaining any real knowledge."

Well that sounded rehearsed

Not even travelling to another world could distract my soon to be second wife from the horror of people being denied education, so she just had to say something.

"Why would anyone close a library?" Hermione asked the librarian who I thought was called Samuel "books need to be read its important!"

Possibly Samuel may have answered her but I interrupted him by saying.

"We just want to get married in a hurry and I don't know who performs marriages around, but I figured you'd know".

Samuel inspected us before making a comment.

"That explains your clothes, at least".

He sighed before supplying us both with the information we desired.

"The library is closed because the King, for reasons that are his own, has decided that the crown will no longer pay for the academy, and I can marry you as I am also the town's magistrate".

"Good" I said the to magistrate "I want a quick Vegas style wedding".

Which was a silly thing to say because I knew what that meant.

"We need to be married within the hour" I clarified.

The public official was understandable surprised and he had to ask.

"Why so soon?"

Rather than bother to come up with a lie I simply threw a few gold coins on the counter.

"That's why" I said by way of an answer.

Government types are so easy to bribe.

"My word!" exclaimed Samuel "I've never coins like this, but they are clearly gold and worth quite a lot if I am any judge".

I withdrew a coin and the librarian/magistrate got back on track.

"Yes well we need a few witnesses and of course some rings. Stay here I'll get some of the villagers. It won't take long then just a few forms to stamp and then you'll sign them".

Aside from the coin I was holding the rest of the money vanished.

"We don't have any rings" realised my bride to be.

"You couldn't wear one at school anyway" I pointed out "no one in our world can know that we're married".

Then she unleashed the most dreadful psychological weapon a woman could use upon a man. The sorrowful puppy dog look of DOOM!

Thankfully I knew how to make simple jewellery out of money as I'd seen Luna do it. Well actually she had two methods but one I utilised didn't involve shopping.

Carefully I visualised the process that would turn the gold coin in my hand into a suitable wedding ring. With a careful wave of my wand the ring was made.

I then made a ring for myself but out of silver which was easier to do and more tasteful in my opinion, as I had always found gold to be a bit gaudy and silver was easier to transfigure.

Then I performed another spell.

"_Orchideous" _I muttered as I twirled my wand in a small circle.

The flowers I conjured up weren't as fancy as I'd hoped but it was NEWT level magic so Hermione was suitable impressed by the feat and pleased by the gift.

"I think I'll be practising that spell often," I remarked.

Given that I was about to gain another wife that was a sure thing.

Hermione was by this point smiling the smile of those who get their way and I got the impression that Hermione Granger was not the submissive type.

I had best be careful otherwise at this rate it wouldn't be me who'd be leading the Outcasts, or at least I would be the one visibly leading the group while Hermione ran things from the shadows without people noticing.

To avoid such a fate I just had to start dominating the women in my life, assuming that was possible. Perhaps I should revisit the ball gag idea and add some ropes, they were easy enough to conjure up.

"Right lets get this travelling circus on the road" said the magistrate as he returned with some witnesses.

Not wanting any fuss I searched my pockets for more coins and handed out some silver ones, so that the the witnesses knew to shut up and play along.

"Normally we don't rush such things" informed the librarian "but times are hard, shame really a good party is just what we need".

More silver coins appeared on the counter.

"Have a round at the pub on me" I offered.

That seemed to cheer everyone up.

"Do you want to just fill out the forms or shall I go for a quick ceremony?" the officiating official asked.

I started to say "paperwork" but a kick from the soon to be wife made me switch to "ceremony".

It wasn't for the fact this was her wedding day I'd be punishing her for that, later but correcting her behaviour could wait as we had to get back to the school soon. I'd leave it for a few days and then I'd chastise both my wives, perhaps with a nice spanking.

I paid next to no attention to the ceremony because none of what the guy was saying made much sense to me and I didn't really care anyway. The only reason I was here was so that my harem could grow in size.

The bits that did matter was the exchanging of the rings, the kiss and then the paper work. Samuel stamped all the right forms and then Hermione Granger became Hermione Mason, at least while we were in Albion.

"Congratulations," said the magistrate "you are now married full citizens of Albion. You can now jointly purchase a home, have legitimate children and can no longer be made to testify against each other in court, but sadly there aren't any tax cuts these days. The dowry is also taxed I'm sorry to say".

I threw a few more coins onto the counter and Samuel caught on fast.

"The tax has been collected, so that's that then".

I'd been about to suggest going back to school and finding a quiet place to consecrate the marriage, but that plan fell through when a women came running in screaming.

"DRAGON!".

I hadn't even know Fable had dragons.

"We should help them" encouraged the new Mrs. Mason "they don't know how to deal with dragons".

What and we did?

After the sigh of a very tired man I said. "Fine but this counts as a wedding present".

Bloody Gryffindors.

After removing several layers of clothing, so that I was stripped down to my trousers, ruffled shirt, and shoes I went outside to seek out this dragon. Which wasn't hard as the beast was making no effort to hide.

"You know that dragon looks like a lot like the one on your family crest" remarked my new wife as we ran for cover.

I'd forgotten about that.

"Yeah its on the Welsh flag" I explained having to raise my voice a bit to be heard over the people running about aimlessly while screaming about the dragon loud enough that King Logan would be able to hear about it "the Mason's are a Welsh Wizarding family".

Neither of us had much time to discuss this possible coincidence as out of no where an angel appeared before us.

She wore stunning gold armour that would suit a Roman legionnaire, combined with an Amazon warrior and she had great looking breasts. To top it off she carried a equally impressive double handed sword.

At this point it was forgiveable of us to think that we were about to be saved, but I'd forgotten that angels aren't always nice people as anyone whose read the Old Testament knows.

"Kill any who resist," ordered the rather attractive female celestial being "then separate the males and the females. Our dark master desires more slaves, so take them alive!"

For a second I wondered who she was talking to but when the ground outside the academy collapsed and an army of leather clad women armed with whips appeared backed up my animated skeletons dragging cages my wondering ended.

No doubt if we had the time Hermione would be asking me why an angel was commanding what seemed to a combined force of dominatrix themed female warriors and skeletons, but we were a little too busy to discuss it.

The angel ignored us and went after the armed guards while the monsters and fetish wear models came after us.

The Misses and I hadn't fought together yet so unlike the times I'd thought alongside the rest of the Outcasts we didn't have any teamwork but the new Mrs. Mason wasn't called the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

A variety of well aimed series of non-lethal spells left her wand while I fired more deadly charms at the incoming forces of darkness.

Perhaps we were already linked in some way because without sharing a word Hermione and I started to move back towards the academy which was the place to be right now as it was a lot more secure than anywhere else around here.

This drew the attention of the angel who swooped down and used her impressive sword to block our spells and those that got passed were stopped by her equally impressive armour.

Without knowing why I got my sword out of the expanded bag. Before I could think blades met and my sword seemed to do the fighting for me, which was odd to say the least, still it didn't help much as this warrior-angel was a much better fighter then me.

As luck would have it Hermione managed to hit the angel in the face with a sting jinx which made the winged humanoid back off giving the wife and I time to run. The angel had foolishly dropped her sword so I summoned it since the golden blade seemed to be worth taking and I quickly passed it Herm who held it like a complete amateur.

"Why is it every time I decide to do the right thing rather than have sex I nearly get killed" I muttered to myself as the thick wooden doors of the academy closed trapping us all inside the building.

Someone then foolishly declared that the doors would keep the invaders out but while they were good solid doors they weren't dragon proof.

"How many people can you apperate with?" asked the former Miss. Granger.

I did a quick headcount and then calculated how long the door would last.

"I could save a few people" I offered "or take us home. If I go without you, you'll die".

None of the sheep had thought to run deeper into the building just yet, if they had they might of lived longer.

"There's a back exit" the librarian informed everyone "through the catacombs".

Well at least someone was thinking.

If I remembered right it was full of Hollowmen, but if there was an exit down there some of them might make it.

"Run, you fools" I commanded in my Dark Lord voice "I will buy you some time".

The door was about to go so the people ran as they should. Leaving me to play the hero, which really wasn't my thing but I played the part anyway.

I started to focus my hate hoping to take that angel down with the Killing Curse, but I couldn't summon up the hate sure I was scared and a bit angry as I was suppose to be getting laid by now yet for some reason I just didn't feel the hate.

Thankfully I had access to Skyrim magic so after putting away both my sword and wand I charged up a good old fashioned fireball, but I stopped that in order to charge up two lightening bolt attacks as while dragons are not totally immune to fire based spells they are extremely resistant to them.

"We should really leave" I urged my 'lesser' wife.

"No," she protested "we can't everyone here will die if we don't fight".

Bloody stupid Gryffindors, and bloody stupid me for acting like one.

The doorway collapsed and an armoured figure appeared his metal suit was dragon themed so I assumed he was the dragon's master, and for a heartbeat or two I wondered if he was a Dragon Lord. If he was we were both dead for sure.

For some reason the dragon-man paused rather than attack as he couldn't quite understand what he was seeing, this gave Hermione and I the chance to strike first.

I sent my lightening bolts at the possible Dragon Lord and then cast the Portal Spell grabbing my fellow Hogwarts student just after she sent a stunning spell at the dragon themed man.

As we vanished I saw a ladybug fly out of Hermione's hair and for some reason that seemed to be important, but I had no idea why.


	34. Chapter 34

**Author Note:**

Lots of good reviews this chapter. Thank you for the support guys and I hope you all keep reading.

I've now written over 150,000 words and I have over two hundred reviews just for this story that's a record for me. No section of Overlord Gothic got this much attention nor lasted this long. This story is my fan fiction masterpiece.

**Reviews **

******deconneur**

Yes Rita is in Albion

Merlin is alive and well he's just not doing anything important. He will appear in this story but not until Damien's last two years at Hogwarts. He will be a little off naturally but he'll also be very wise and able to see the big picture when it comes to Damien.

Yeah I was planning to do Harry's POV soon. I might as well do it for this chapter since nothing really important happens for Damien during the Water Task.

Star Wars would be nice but it takes years to gain any real understanding of the Force, even intense Sith training takes a decade, unless you form a Force Bond with someone like say the Jedi Exile, which was Darth Gothic did. Plus he's a little too young to be in the Star Wars Galaxy. Its different in places like Albion and Skyrim because he counts as an adult in those worlds but in the Star Wars Galaxy he'd be treated like a child.

Time Lords don't use magic they mutated due to exposer to the Time Vortex. That's how River Song became a human/Time Lord.

Actually the name Gothic comes from gothicjedi666 which was back in the day my account on Space Battles. People called me Gothic for short and I thought it suited me so I adopted it as my self insert name for the roleplays on that site. Often I would play a Sith Lord or another evil character/evil faction because as you may of noticed I like being the villain, or at least an anti-hero.

Last of all Damien will be rethinking his actions he's going to start taking his school work more seriously and study a lot more magic because he now knows just how dangerous being a Wizard really is if you don't know what's going to happen in advance.

**A.W**

Bye, bye Skeeter.

Man eating toads that would be amusing. They have those in Overlord 2.

Hiring extra Dwarves from the Discworld, that's a good idea it would help Damien when he starts up his one Kingdom.

Yeah no Deep Down Dwarves for sure, those guys are nuts.

**Hypnosis Writer**

Yes it was.

******Just A Question **

I'm doing an update for that right now.

******champion of the little people**

Skeeter flew out of Hermione's hair while they were still in the Fable universe so she's now trapped there.

******wooden farts there on the go**

I'll do my best, but different Gothics are at different points in time and the Traveller views them a different times. This is know because DK Gothic wouldn't wait for over a year to conquer Brightwall.

******Selias**

No she won't she's still in Albion but Dungeon Keeper Gothic will kill her anyway.

**Lord Edric**

While a few Gothics will appear in this story it will only be a for a short time and there will be no big meeting.

I'm doing a labyrinth for the Earth task, but thanks for the suggestion.

******Guest**

I might add another girl later but I think four is enough for now.

**Hagstang**

Damien meeting DK Gothic should give my Dungeon Keeper story a kick in the pants.

The angel lives in Fable that place is full of magic swords, so its not great loss really she can get something even better.

******Winter Feline**

Your right its not coincidence and yeah Damien will not be going to Fable again.

******tylermech66**

Well the whole chapter is two chapters condensed so it should seem rushed. I don't want to spend to much time on the Goblet Of Fire otherwise the story will start to drag.

No not all of the Gothics. He'll never met Overlord Gothic or Emperor Gothic or Tamer Gothic or DC Gothic, the list could go on for a while but he will met a few more because he's the First Gothic**.**

******douchiesnacks**

Yes Rita Skeeter is trapped in Fable hows that for for an accidental exile.

I know Fairies/Fay can be really evil in fantasy but aren't they just Christmas tree decorations in the HP verse?

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 34. **

**Hogwarts School Grounds. In The Black Lake. The Wizarding World.**

Harry Potter was finding this task oddly relaxing.

The Gillyweed potion supplied by Neville Longbottom did a lot more than simply allow the Boy-Who-Lived to breathe underwater, it also allowed him to withstand the coldness of the Black Lake with ease and he was swimming as if he was part fish. Harry thought the combined effect was a bit like wearing an invisible scuba suit.

One of the other reasons why this task was so relaxing in comparison to the last one, was that he was being guided by the Merpeople. The fish men creatures kept their distance from the Chosen One but they signalled to him now and again in order to show him the way. Harry had a good idea as to why they were doing this.

A weeks days ago he'd finally gotten his father's map back from Hermione who'd been using it to spy on a certain Ravenclaw student she'd been obsessing about more and more since that time when the Death Eaters had kidnapped all three of the Golden Trio at the the end of their third year.

That hadn't been something he'd wanted to encourage as stalking people was wrong but given that he'd used the map to spy on other people more than once he didn't have a good reason to deny her use of the map.

Harry had for a while suspected that his long time female friend was in love with that Claw and he'd checked to map to see if she was still following Mason around.

To his surprise they were hanging around together a lot, along with that loopy, but rather sweet, Lovegood girl and more surprisingly with Neville and Ginny who were his closet friends now that Ron was living in the Muggle world with some relative of Mrs Weasly.

Harry had naturally been worried about all his friends hanging around together with two Claws that he barely knew, and sometimes even a couple of snakes, but he hadn't gotten paranoid about it until members of group started to vanish off the map.

If it just happened when they entered the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor then he wouldn't of shown the slightest bit of attention as there could easily be an innocent explanation. There must be because if this group was using the Room for something bad they wouldn't of let him know where it was never mind let him use it to train for the Tournament.

Now that he had time to think about all this he had to wonder if Hermione had found a way to hide from the map. That would explain why she had borrowed it for so long, she'd of been studying the enchanted item trying to figure out how it worked. That would be very typical behaviour for her, and it made sense as if she had found a spell to hide her presence from the map it wouldn't always work as charms cast on a person sometimes wore off.

Whatever spell it was it hadn't hidden the group he'd been spying on when they went down to Black Lake last night. Harry had followed under his cloak and seen Mason talking to one of the Merepeople, you didn't need to be a Ravenclaw to figure out that Mason had arranged for the inhabitants to help him out.

A bit dishonest but Professor Moody had said that cheating was an important part of the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry wouldn't be remotely surprised if he later discovered that Hermione had come up a plan to help him out with this task. In fact he could in fact see how the plan could of come together. Neville was the inventor of the Gillyweed potion and Damien must know that there were Merepeople in the lake as well as how to speak to them.

Naturally Harry had told Cedric about the potion as Cedric had told him what the riddle on the scroll (which the champions had all caught one of during the First Task) had meant.

Not that Hufflepuff boy had needed one as he was using the Bubblehead Charm which had been Harry's plan until he'd gotten his hands on a few free bottles of Gillyweed potion.

In Harry's view the potion was much better as the bubblehead the charm produced made it hard to see where as the Gillyweed potion somehow adjusted his eyes so he could see normally when under water.

As the last of the Potter family navigated past some unfriendly looking underwater planets that only Neville would be able to identify the Boy-Who-Lived started to think more about his life in recent months.

Aside from losing his best friend and gaining two in replacement, something he had mixed feelings about now and again, his life had been changing quite a lot.

The oddest thing to happen recently was that his scar was fading away. Even Dumbledore didn't understand how that could be happening, all he'd said was something about the essence that was once divided being gone before asking Harry about his recent dreams.

Harry was starting to consider the idea that he had some sort of guardian angel looking out for him as far back to when his Uncle and Cousin had disappeared. That had been odd to say the least neither the Muggle police nor the Aurors had found any signs of foul play involved it was as if both of the overweight bullies had simply vanished off the face of the Earth.

That event had led to Harry's Godfather Sirius Black gaining custody despite the fact that Harry's Aunt was still around. She'd moved into headquarters rather than live alone, for reasons that Harry wasn't privy to nor did he care to find out.

Having a loving home to go to had improved Harry's life greatly, and as a result he'd become more confident while at school. No longer having to suffer at Duzkaban meant that the Boy-Who-Lived could now do his homework without hiding it and he'd had access to the Black family library to aid in his studies.

While at school, at least once Ron had gone Muggle, Harry had found himself with more friends than he knew what to do with and while they were no more interested in school work that Ron had been they were better at it so Harry had for once had more encouragement to do better in class than just Hermione's well meaning but rather off-putting nagging.

Not that Hermione nagged him much these days in fact she'd didn't talk to him much at all.

Harry couldn't of failed to noticed that Hermione hadn't been hanging out with much since she and Ron had stopped being friends, but the distance between them was growing despite the fact Ron was no longer around to drive a wedge between the group.

In fact ever since the Yule Ball he'd hardly seen her at all. Part of that had to do with the fact that she and that loony girl were somehow both dating the same popular Ravenclaw guy at the same time, but deep down Harry couldn't deny that it was partly his fault.

Over his years at Hogwarts Harry had spent a lot of his time at school switching between hero and outcast, and neither title led to many friendships so when he'd suddenly became Mr. Popular he'd not known how to deal with it as unlike Hermione's boyfriend he didn't have that sense of mature aloofness. It also didn't help that Harry didn't really think he was really worthy of having so many friends.

Given all that it wasn't surprising that the Boy-Who-Lived hadn't been able to deal with the situation as well as he should have.

Still that wasn't a good enough to excuse the growing distance between himself and his favourite bookworm. Sadly however Harry couldn't see a way to fix things.

When he finally came across the hostages and discovered that Ginny was his he realised that his friendship with the house swot could well and truly be over.

As he cut Ginny, and only Ginny free, with the knife his godfather had given him Harry to swore to start fixing this matter once he got back to surface, even if did mean making friends with the guy Ron had once called a rich, swotty git who got all the attention from the girls.

**Hogwarts School Grounds. The Black Lake. Audience Stands The Wizarding World.**

"Do you think he's okay down there?" asked the second of the two Mrs Masons.

Given that the Outcasts and I were standing slightly away from the crowds in was quiet enough to pay attention to the class notes Hermione had supplied me with rather than the water themed task going on in the lake. This meant that I really had no clue as to what was going on but I wasn't always the best source of information.

"He'll be back with Ginny soon" assured Luna who had already foreseen the outcome "Neville's waiting for them near the champions tent, why don't you go and wait with him".

Once the newest Mrs Mason was gone the first of the two leaned in close and started to read Hermione's note for Transfiguration class along with me.

Such behaviour was a bit odd but compared to how she'd been when we first met trying to read things over my shoulder was no big deal.

"I'd of though taking that Wit-Sharpening Potion would make this easier" I remarked as I struggled to understand Hermione's neatly written notes.

To be fair the potions Snape had created had been works of art in liquid form, far better than anything I could made even with the Half-Blood Prince book.

No the quality of the potions wasn't the problem as the Wit-Sharpening Potion was more effective the better it was made but the brew only sharpened the mind it couldn't enhance your intelligence. Which meant the problem was me.

It wasn't that my max power level had been reached either nor was the problem my intelligence, and if it had been I knew ways to really enhance it.

The real problem was that I'd not studied anywhere near as much as I should have. I'd not realised it until recently but my school work was suffering because of all the attention I'd been putting into scheming and plotting.

Up until now my charm and cleverness had allowed me to breeze through my classes with relative ease, but now that the work was starting to pile up there was a lot more theory work going on and my natural skill at magic didn't help to understand its inner workings.

At least the teachers had put my lack of effort into my homework down to my interest in girls. I was hardly the first boy in this school to start chasing skirt even at my age and while this civilization had a very Victorian about sex they actually approved of teenage romance, and they also were willing to put up with a certain amount of groping in the broom closets.

Still if they actually knew what I got up when visiting Skyrim a few of the female staff would likely faint. Well maybe not the Astronomy Professor as she seemed find the fact that I had been caught snogging two different girls on the same day extremely amusing, but the Deputy Headmistress had threatened to turn a hose water spell on me.

To be fair it was her class I was failing and it was the class that actually mattered if I was failing as I had to take that subject as a NEWT in order to claim my family inheritance.

Still I didn't have to worry to much as I could conjure basic items out of thin air and transfigure things at will as long as it was about reshaping the item more than changing the matter, but in some ways this made it worse because I was so good at conjuration more was expected of me.

The leader of the lion house and I had butted heads a few times on my practical work because I hated transfiguring living things. Turning some poor defenceless life form into an inanimate object had never sat well with me.

My Transfiguration teacher had explained more than once that the creatures didn't suffer and given that the animals turned back to the natural form didn't react badly to the experience this supported her view of things, but to me the whole thing seemed unnatural and wrong.

Perhaps this was because I saw the transfiguration of living things as a sign of how badly magical humans thought of lower order animals. Eating animals, even hunting them for no reason other than to bag a trophy was fine with me, because humans hunt its what evolution made us to do, but in my view living creatures shouldn't be turned into household items just because its easier than buying a replacement. Furthermore it wasn't as if I was ever going to feel thirsty enough to drink water out of a goblet that use to a be a pet.

At least the other subjects I was having trouble with didn't matter as much. Professor Sprout knew that Neville was tutoring me in her subject, even during class, but helping another student like that was a Hufflepuff thing to do so it was approved of by the plant loving hippy lady.

Charms class was okay because I had a natural talent for the subject and that was easy to prove. Homework doesn't matter as much in that subject as my Head of House cared far more about the practical side of things, mostly because it was important to him that we performed charms safely.

Which helped a lot in Defence since a carelessly cast charm got Moody very mad. That guy lectured about sloppy spell casting like a drill sergeant would lecture about improper weapon's maintenance. Which was right of him to do so as he'd lost more body parts to foolishness than he had to enemy fire.

Potions was also okay as Slughorn favoured those he saw as being useful to him in the future. Someone with my wealth and influence (both of which were far greater than even he realised) could fall asleep in his class and still get full marks for the day, not that I'd tested this.

As for my electives well they hardly mattered at all as I didn't need qualifications for my chosen career and the only OWLs that mattered were the ones that would allow me to sit the right NEWT classes, but my future status as Headboy was at stake in the long run and in the short term it could effect my chances of being made a Perfect.

I didn't care one iota for the honour of being a Perfect as I knew that in the Wizarding World it was blood purity, wealth and magical power that mattered, but being a Perfect would give me greater freedom of movement and more influence over my house.

However given that I was the only Ravenclaw boy in my year what choice did they have.

As for the Headboy slot well it would be nice and being Perfect increased my chances of getting that job, but I didn't fancy my chances as Tom Riddle had been Headboy and if Dumbledore thought I was following in the current Dark Lord's footsteps then there was no chance of being made Headboy as that position, along with its female counterpart, were assigned by the Headmaster. He'd give the slot to Potter I was sure of that, assuming either lived that long.

I doubted the Headmaster would be able stop me from becoming a Perfect as Slughorn had promised Neville and I that job and the Potions Master knew how to get people into the places they belonged. I'd considered asking him to help Luna get a spot but there were limits to what the teacher could do and Luna wouldn't make a good Prefect as the post required someone who had the respect of their fellow students. My Luna was far more well liked than the cannon version but she lacked the means to act with authority.

Thinking on what was going these days some more it I wondered if perhaps this crackdown on my lacklustre efforts towards school work was Dumbledore's doing. I'd suspected that he might do something that would further the limit the amount of time I could spend learning the dark arts and gathering more power, this seemed to be it.

Not that it really mattered as ever since I'd run into that dragon-man in Albion I'd decided not to go off adventuring again, at least not until I had learned how to fight.

My performance against those skeletons and dominatrix warriors had been sub par at best. I suspected that part of that was lack of motivation Hermione had done more to stop then using non-lethal spells then I had been while throwing around much more dangerous curses because she'd wanted to beat the enemy I'd just wanted to get the hell away from that place. She'd even saved my life when I crossed blades with that angel, my sword had allowed me to duel the winged human for a few moments but a magic weapon didn't make you a great swordsmen.

My second wife had then disabled the heavenly warrior with a spell used to prank people. I wasn't sure why I'd then grabbed the angel's weapon and given in to my second wife but it had felt the right thing to do. Perhaps magical weapons could change allegiances like wands sometimes did.

Still even though we'd both survived the event and kicked a little ass I decided not to go off to any more dangerous worlds for a while.

That wasn't just because of the danger aspect or because my school work, it also had a lot to do with the fact that I had two horny teenagers at my beck and call.

Both Luna and Hermione were more mentally mature than their peers. Hermione was just more mature and Luna well she seen enough of her adult life to know what it meant to be an adult, so they were far more eager to experiment than most girls their age. It also helped that I'd married them both as well. Sex outside of marriage is considered very bad in the Wizarding World, and some that outdated morality had rubbed off on Hermione and Luna.

Heavy petting was fine behind closed doors as there was a general understanding that to much sexual tension in teenagers badly effect their ability to perform magic which while in school could be quite dangerous, but any sort of intercourse was an extreme taboo.

There was even a little know school rule that said any guy who got a girl pregnant here had to marry her at once, regardless of what either the man or the woman wanted or even what age the students were.

Thankfully I didn't have to worry about that as by marrying both girls they had lost any guilt or concern they may have had about sex, so while couldn't have sex at school, at least not outside of the Room of Requirement, I had a love shack in Skyrim so that wasn't an issue.

Of course that didn't stop any of us from messing around while in school and it was a good thing that we did since I couldn't help but strut around the castle with a smug grin on my face these days. If I hadn't been caught snogging and feeling up my secret wives the staff would start thinking that I was in need of a trip to the hospital wing due an overdose of Cheering Charms.

"Good read?" inquired a new voice.

Hestia and Flora Carrow, the Slytherin twins, had appeared.

Recently I'd started to work my charms on them recently hoping to get some concubines that didn't also want to marry me. Not that I was opposed to marrying them really it just a matter of it not being safe to do so. They were twins so I'd have to venture a world were polygamy was not only legal but also a world were teenagers could married without any form of ID.

"Sadly not my dears," I replied "the lovely Miss Hermione Granger write very well written notes but the subject is frightfully dull".

The Carrow twins were not bigots, unlike the rest of their school house, so they didn't care that Hermione was a Muggleborn but they were driven to prove their own intellectual prowess.

"Perhaps you could make use of our notes" offered either Hestia or Flora "they might prove more useful to you, my lord".

If it weren't for the fact that I had two sexually liberated teenage girls wanting to practice their oral sex techniques on me I might have been able to summon enough anger to rebuke the twins for calling me 'my lord' in public.

"I'm sure our lord and master would find that helpful" commented Luna.

Sometimes I had to consider the idea that the women in my life wanted to me to get mad and punish them. I was beginning to suspect that they thought a real Dark Lord should punish his followers.

Machiavelli no doubt would of approved.

"_People are less concerned with offending a man who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared"._

Of course I wanted to be both loved and feared, with love being the important part.

Personally I thought ruling through fear to be rather limiting. It was effective true, but fear could cripple a person were as when you love someone you will go just that bit further for them.

Still fear of punishment had its place. To this end my wives had found out, and perhaps one of them had let this fact slip to the twins, that I liked to spank.

It really wouldn't surprise me if both Hestia and Flora sought to drive me to such actions, as while they weren't typical Pureblood Dark Witches you don't get sorted into the Snake Pit for nothing. Both of the Carrows hungered for power and knowledge, and they were both cunning enough to realise that seduction could, and likely would knowing me, get them some of the power I had to offer.

A bare bottom spanking wasn't a pleasant thing for someone who wasn't a masochist (at least not the way I spanked) but compared to being tortured by magic it was no big deal really as long as you knew the Cooling Charm and how to conjure up a cushion.

My musing on the punishment of minions came to a sudden end when the Giant Squid, who lived in the Black Lack, broke to the surface causing a small tidal the creature seem to be holding what appeared to be some sort of shark like creature in one of its tentacles.

"Is that Victor Krum?" inquired one of the twins.

So it seemed to be, he was being thrown about in the air by the Giant Squid.

"That's a bit of bad luck" remarked the other twin.

I looked at Luna and under the glare of my sometimes scary eyes she confessed.

"Tizzy helped me to slip the rest of the venom Neville got into the porridge the Slytherin table was served this morning. It takes longer to kick in if its mixed with food, but its still quite effective".

As if to prove her point the part of the stand that a large number of Slytherins were sitting on partly collapsed causing most of them to go rolling off into the soggy ground below. I didn't think anyone was hurt but it was bloody funny.

My mood then changed to one of concern I turned to the twins who assured that nothing with them would go wrong by saying at the same time that they had only eaten the toast.

"I'm surprised Tizzy helped you do that" I said, speaking to Luna.

"She doesn't know that was what she was doing?"

A House Elf would never harm a human unless it was to protect other humans and even then it wasn't done very often nor was it ever a lethal defence.

This was because they had been made that way House Elves weren't natural creatures. According to one of Merlin's books the House Elf race had been created by himself and his apprentices to serve man, not directly like they now served Wizards, but by performing kind deeds like in the story of The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Which had actually happened and was the only know case of a House Elf being caught in the act, so to speak, by a Muggle.

As the story, or possibly historical account, went once long ago the House Elves had been creatures called Gremlins who were much like Goblins.

Gremlins delighted in causing pain and suffering across the land. The Roman Wizards had kept them in line as had the Druids but by medieval times both groups had mostly vanished from Britain.

Merlin who thought that magic should be used for the betterment of all mankind had worked with other like-minded Wizards to transform the race into something that was less likely to go around killing people.

The Gremlins were not changed physically rather they were spiritual changed. They were made to feel remorse for their crimes. Over time and down the generations they started to reflect outwardly what they now were inside but once the Statue of Secrecy was brought into effect they had been forced to only serve Wizards and Witches.

This was in my opinion a very bad thing because now that the House Elves couldn't do good for all mankind their transformation had halted leaving them looking rather horrid, and it also made magical humans more lazy.

(Author Note: Compare Dobby to the Gremlins in the movie of the same name and you'll see how I came up with this connection. Goblins resemble both House Elves and Gremlins. In my view there is a reason for this.)

Also House Elves of the modern era served families they weren't slaves that bonded to one person they voluntary served a family. So that meant that Tizzy served all the Masons, it was just until now they hadn't been any Masons aside from myself to serve, so now I was married my wives could give Tizzy orders too. I could still countermand those orders as I was leader of the family but I could only do that if I knew about the order.

Not that I would have as the sight of Krum dangling in mid air was extremely amusing, so much so in fact that I hadn't even noticed that Potter was back with his hostage.

Hermione soon rejoined us and informed me what was going on.

"Harry got back first and Neville is angry that Ginny was put in the lake".

If this was any other school than Hogwarts the Headmaster would be sacked on the spot. Putting children in that lake was just plain stupid.

"Of course he's angry" replied Luna "Ginny is like a little sister to him".

The same was true for me given that I cared for her well being but didn't find her attractive in anyway. She was the only Outcast physically younger than I was and she was in a lower year so naturally she was the baby of the group. Not that she liked it, but it that was just the way things were.

"Let him fuss over Gin-Gin for awhile and you can fuss over Potter" I said "I'm going to the library".

The twins and Luna followed without a word but Hermione didn't as she'd raced off to go fuss over the Boy-Who-Lived as I'd wanted her to.

Now maybe I could figure out the Transfiguration theory on the cross-species switching spell.

Bah homework!


	35. Chapter 35

**Reviews**

That's funny because I wasn't going to post the last chapter until the latest chapter of Dungeon Keeper Gothic was ready (which it still isn't) but for some unknown reason I suddenly changed my mind.

Actually with the Faires I think its a case of vanity. Although I did once read in a fanfic that they feed on Christmas magic which is an idea that amuses me.

**War Sage **

You'll find out this chapter.

**A.W**

Harry thinks Hermione is the one helping him out with the Triwizard Tournament. He in no way suspects that Damien is the true mastermind behind events.

I do intend for them to be, as you said, cordial with each other but they will never be real friends.

The last thing Damien would do would be to try and drive a wedge between Potter and Dumbledore. Damien will avoid anything that will bring the wrath of the Headmaster down upon him.

Thankfully the Headmaster is currently under the impression that Damien is an oversexed teenager who cares more about getting into girl's knickers than he does about learning magic or becoming a Dark Lord. Its a good cover really.

Plus Dumbledore is going to be rather distracted soon.

******Winter Feline**

I'm sure there are ways to inflict pain without using the dark arts those two Slytherin girls will find that out failing that I'm sure the caretaker has all the tools for corporal punishment looked away somewhere.

I'm glad your enjoying this story.

Don't forget Dumbledore, there's no Draco to try and kill the Headmaster nor is there a ring to curse him. This means that it could end being a four way fight if Harry wises up. Sadly that doesn't seem likely in this story as I've portrayed Harry as nice but dim.

******Lord Edric**

The objective of the labyrinth is get out so there will be some tricks but nothing lethal as its going to have elements of a puzzle.

Maybe I should rethink the lava then.

******Guest**

Harry and Damien have met they have classes together its just that they don't talk to each other outside of class as they are not friends, and when in class its just pleasantries. Damien has a rather low opinion of Harry.

**Tylermech66**

Well I think it works, and does explain how a species such as the House Elves could come into existence.

Yes British Highschools have Prefects, or at least mine did. They even had badges. I don't actually know what they did as I wasn't one but I assume they were good for something.

**Garion Faldor**

He is a Grey Lord I suppose he just won't be called that because that's not how the Wizarding World works. Damien will be labelled as a Dark Lord even he is just a gadfly most of the time.

I have dyslexia so there isn't anything I can do about my grammar. I really should get a Beta but so far everyone I've asked hasn't gotten back to me.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 35.**

**Umbridge House. The Umbridge Estate. The Wizarding World. **

Along with Flora and Hestia Carrow I made my way quietly through Madam Umbridge's House heading for the room the twins knew to the toad's study.

"This way my lord" instructed one of the twins in a whisper.

Soon the three of us stood outside the bitches' study and I took a deep breathe before steeping forward right threw the door. Once on the other side of the door I breathed out and became corporeal again. I still couldn't get use to doing that. Being able to walk through solid objects was a useful power even if it was unpleasant.

Upon seeing me Umbitch was greatly surprised as from her perspective I'd simply appeared out of nowhere and I was also wearing black robes which covered my entire body with a hood that covered my face.

Given this it was natural that the cardigan wearing kitten lover panicked. However the panic was short lived as I stunned the Witch before she could make any moves.

I then unlocked the study which allowed Flora and Hestia to enter.

"Its been a long time since we've seen this place" informed one of the twins.

The twins had told me that once years ago before attending Hogwarts they'd been 'tutored' by Umbridge. She'd been attempting to make them both proper Purebloods. This had included the use of a blood quill at least once, and that was all the justification I needed for getting rid of the foul woman.

The 'tutoring' seemed to have worked somewhat but the young Carrows had never really gotten into the whole 'Purebloods are better than everyone else the world' ideal.

"Somehow its gotten more... pink" commented the other twin who used the word pink in the same way other people would use the putrid.

Rather than reply to either of them I took the Staff Of Magnus out of my pouch and then I used it to strip the Senior Undersecretary of her magic.

The twins had never seen me use a staff before so they were understandable fascinated by what they saw.

"What did you do?" asked one of the twins.

I was still unable to tell the twins apart due to the fact they looked exactly alike and that always wore matching green and black outfits, but they didn't seem to care. Being twins they would have simply gotten use to it during their lives and I never addressed either of them by name anyway.

"I took away her magic" I answered.

Rather than react as if shocked both the twins smiled. I suspected that they were happy not simply because I'd just helped them get payback, but also because they had been given further proof that I was the Dark Lord worth following.

In order to cement this idea I'd shown both of the ambitious teens a few of my more impressive powers, like the walking through walls thing, and I had also taught them both a few tricks, so this wasn't the first time I'd seen that expression on their faces.

"So now that the bitch is helpless you ladies have a chance for some payback".

The two sneaky snakes looked at each for a moment and seemed to have a quick telepathic conversation. Perhaps that was exactly what they were doing, twins have a special connection after all and with magic many things are possible.

"Lets just kill her" they said in unison.

"Very well," I said in reply "but there's no need for it to be a pleasant death".

That Umbridge would die tonight had never been in doubt.

Originally I'd not intended to do anything about Umbridge unless she came to the school or somehow started up something like the Muggleborn Registration Act, but that had all changed when the Daily Prophet had mentioned that Fudge would be assigning a new History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts. I hadn't been certain that it would be Umbridge, it could have been anyone from the Ministry, but I wasn't going to take that chance.

Still if it hadn't been for a few things that the Carrow twins had told me about their 'tutoring' I might of done nothing until after Umbridge did something to earn my ire.

"Take a look around the house," I ordered "make sure that there aren't any portraits or anything else that can talk around here. There must be no witnesses. Oh and we might as well trash the place since we want it to look like a Death Eater attack, that means you can steal stuff too".

The twins gave a short bow and said.

"As you wish, Lord Mason".

They really had to stop calling me that, at least when not in a secure place. To enforce that message I sent a couple of mild stinging jinxes at their backsides as they left, but the spell was meant to discipline rowdy children so all it did to the teenagers was make them jump a little.

Judging by the smiles they sent my way as the door closed they'd actually enjoyed the spell. I was so going to have to try something more extreme in order to keep them in line. Maybe I give them a time out on another world, that was certainly scare them a little.

Umbridge started to wake up so I got on with the next stage of my plan.

After downing some ageing potion I grabbed the wicked Witch by the shoulder and teleported us both somewhere else with the Portal Spell.

******Empire City. The Slums. The Overlord's World.**

Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic return to the land of the awake people and at once regretted it.

Only mere moments ago, from her perspective, a hooded man had suddenly appeared in her study and stunned her.

If that wasn't bad enough she now found herself chained to a post right outside what seemed to be a large grate of some kind, and behind that grate was a giant creature of some sort.

It did not look friendly.

"Good evening Madam Umbridge" said a deep male voice.

Upon seeing her attacker once more Dolores reached for her wand and attempted to cast a spell, only nothing happened the wand did not so much as fizzle.

"What have you done to me!" the Ministry employee demanded to know.

"I took away your magic" answered the hooded man.

The Senior Undersecretary attempted to prove the man false but no matter what she tried she could not cast a single spell.

"How dare you take away a Witches' magic" fumed the vile woman "The Minister will hear of this. Cornelius will put things right!".

"The Minister won't be able to find you here," explained the hooded man "we're not exactly in Kansas any more Toto".

The reference to the Wizard of Oz meant nothing to Umbridge but she panicked anyway and started to call for help.

With a flick of his own wand the hooded man silenced the Senior Undersecretary.

"There's no point in calling for help," said the Wizard "nobody who lives in these parts would come to your aid".

Indeed no one had, and by the looks of things there wasn't anyone around to help. The slums looked abandoned, it was as if the whole city had been evacuated long ago and nobody had bothered to return.

"I was going to tie you to a tree under a full moon and let a werewolf stumble across you," the hooded figure was now saying "or perhaps I would have thrown into a cage with a hungry vampire, but something like that would simply support your bigotry so instead I came up with a more amusing death for you".

"Please don't kill me" the soon to be murder victim begged.

"Oh _I_ won't kill you" replied Umbridge's kidnapper.

A ball of light appeared in the man's hands and it was then thrown towards the large circular grate. The creature behind the grate was illuminated. Umbridge could now see the giant toad that was waiting to be released.

"Somewhat of a family reunion by the looks of things" commented the light throwing man "perhaps I should take a picture".

Indeed they did look alike, not that the Senior Undersecretary would admit such a thing.

"These giant frogs, or possibly toads I can't tell the different, are capable of swallowing a human being whole" informed the robed person "It must be horrible way to die".

At this point Umbridge started to beg for her life but her pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears.

The man waved his wand a few times. The first spell cut the chains which had kept Umbridge from running, but she couldn't run now as the second spell created ropes which bound the woman's legs.

"Your a bad person" said the Wizard "you hurt children, you used your authority as a means to pursue your own twisted, bigoted agenda. The more power you obtain the worse you get. I will not allow that possible future to come to pass".

The Minster of Magic employee had no time to consider what her kidnapper meant by 'possible future' as next spell cast freed the giant frog, or possibly toad which at once went for Umbridge swallowing her in one mouthful.

"Professor Hagrid would love one of you as a pet" commented the man before he vanished in a display of blue light.

**Umbridge House. The Umbridge Estate. The Wizarding World.**

Once I got back to the Umbridge Estate I took the potion that would restore my youthful appearance.

The ageing potion didn't actually make you older otherwise it would fool an ageline it simply gave the drinker the outward appearance of being older, but the twins wouldn't recognise me unless I returned to my natural youthful form.

Really I hadn't needed to take the potion, but I'd wanted to taunt Umbridge a little before she died and fourteen year old boys aren't very intimating. Also brewing the potion was good practice and I did need to study more if I wanted to stay top of the class.

Once I looked like my not so old self again I hurried off to find the Twins who were systemically destroying everything in this house, room by room.

"Having fun girls?" I asked.

"Yes, Master" they replied once more in unison.

This time I didn't mind what they said as we were alone, and I had to admit that I felt good when they said. It was as if having young women call me master was somehow natural and right.

I pushed those thoughts aside and started to take a look around to see if there was anything worth stealing, or perhaps looting would be a better word.

Before coming here I'd emptied my expandable bag and also my mokeskin pouch so I had plenty of room for loot.

Being a Ravenclaw by nature I was drawn to the library which was still intact as the twins wouldn't destroy books without first seeing which ones were worth stealing.

Looking around the massive library I considered the fact that I didn't have the space to store all these tomes. My house in Skyrim was already full just from storing Merlin's relics. I was going to need a much bigger home.

Which I did have really as both Mason Manor and Mason Mansion were by all accounts very large places, but I couldn't access them yet. My Mansion was closed to me until I was seventeen and I'd let the Ministry make use of the renamed Malfoy Manor for the foreseeable future.

A short term solution to my problems was provided when I came across one of those multi-compartment trunks. It was empty and covered in a layer of dust, meaning that it hadn't been used in a long time. They were also very expensive to buy but they could carry a lot which was why I'd been willing to pay so much for one rather than simply buy a standard school trunk.

"Pack!".

While focusing on the books I did the spell and they all flew into the waiting trunk even going as far as to stack themselves by subject.

"I really love magic" I muttered to myself as I watched the shelves empty in next to no time at all.

One of the twins then came running into the room ending any chance I had of looting further.

"Someone just floo'd into the study and then left in a hurry. They shouted at us and said that they were from the Ministry".

Damn that meant the Aurors would soon be here.

"Did they see you?" I asked.

The girl shook her head and said.

"No whoever it was shouted out that they were from the Ministry and that they were going to report us".

Thinking fast I decided what to do.

"We're leaving now" I ordered.

I dragged my loot out of the house and called Tizzy who took the trunk and the girls back to the Room of Requirement for me. I would follow on in a moment, but first.

"_Morsmordre!_".

The Dark Mark appeared above me just as I heard voices from come from inside the house.

This pleased me as it meant that the Aurors would see the Dark Mark and a hooded figure in black.

Even the fools working for Fudge should be able to piece the clues together, and come to the conclusion that Voldemort was back in action.

Of course that didn't mean that Fudge wouldn't deny it, but the Aurors would see what was going on and the seeds of doubt would be sown.

That was enough for now.

Author Note: A short update but Umbridge's death deserves it own chapter.


	36. Chapter 36

**Reviews. **

Guest.

Harry and Mason have met, they just don't talk much because they have next to nothing in common. They will have a few talks one of which is this chapter but I have no intention of having Damien become Potter's pal they just aren't compatible people. Harry's a hero, and Damien is at best an anti-hero willing to kill to bring about the chances he wants and at worse a megalomaniac villain bent of world conquest. People so different don't make good friends.

Tylermech66

I read what you posted so far. I haven't seen enough to make a judgement yet.

Lord Edric

Magical fire might be easier to handle or maybe the twist is that its not really lava at all. Fake lava that the champions don't know is fake could be just as scary as the real stuff.

Glad you liked Umbridge's death.

JakeCrown

That was both poetic and a little scary. If I ever have need a serial killer character I now know what to call him.

Hypnosis Writer

Its a little of both actually.

Z2010Deadmeat

Indeed Umbridge is worse than Voldemort. Although there isn't much difference really they are both evil, sadistic monsters.

mmsbddvr

I didn't put the chapter in bold or mess with the spacing. I don't know why that happened.

That's not the characters name either.

I'm trying to update my other stories but I'm not inspired to write for them.

Winter Feline

Umbridge's disappearance will have a lot of people concerned that's for sure. It should have a long term effect as well assuming the war gets that far. Voldemort is likely to blame one of his few remaining Death Eaters and when none of them confess he'll get very mad.

Funny thing is Umbridge might not even be dead the huge frog thing might of thrown her up. I know I would have. Still it would be extremely unpleasant, and no less than she deserves. She hasn't got any magic or political power now so she's no threat to anyone.

Damien trusts the twins because they are more like him than anyone else he knows. They want what they want and they will do what they have to get it. Damien understands this and he knows that as long as he has what they want (even if he doesn't know exactly what that is right now) they won't risk making him mad. Plus the Carrows know that Damien would do to them what he did to Umbridge if they dare to betray him.

Hermione & Luna love Damien but love can make people do silly things. Your more likely to betray a loved one than someone you fear.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 36.**

**The Great Hall. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

Since it was the Easter holidays things were rather quiet at the school even during meal times.

This was because so many of the students had stayed at the school over Christmas due to the Yule Ball. Due to that event next to none of them had stayed over Easter. So this meant that most of the tables were gone and all the students still in the school were eating together.

Of the Outcasts only myself and the Carrow twins were currently in the school. I'd been invited to spend the week at a number of places but I'd declined using my need to catch up on my school work as an excuse not to go.

Truthfully I had actually spent quite a bit of time doing school work but that wasn't the real reason for staying. With the school next to empty it was much easier to sneak out.

Just last night I'd gone out in order to further advanced my plans. By killing Dolores Umbridge I'd taken one more step towards my goal of creating a more just and fair Ministry of Magic.

Originally I had thought that I might have to destroy the Ministry utterly These days I was thinking that I might not have to after all, as with so many Purebloods now dead the Ministry had no choice but to move Half Bloods into those now vacant positions.

Admittedly it wasn't much but it was a step in the right direction at least and it was something I could take advantage of personally as I was a Half Blood (officially) and with so many positions opening up for the middle class Half Bloods a rich one like me could get quite the high ranking job if I desired.

Not that I actually wanted such a job but if I changed my mind later this situation would help if I decided to go about changing the Ministry from within rather than take it down from the outside.

One of the Carrows, who were sitting to each side of me, passed me today's paper while the other buttered my toast.

I found their actions rather odd as neither Luna or Hermione ever did stuff like this, and they both loved me. I could only assume that the twins wanted something more from me, only I had no idea what that was.

The twins were getting some odd looks from both the staff and the few other students in the hall. Including Potter who was staring at me for some reason.

When I checked out the front page I discovered that it might not be me he was looking at but rather the paper I'd been holding.

The Prophet had a lot to say on the disappearance of Madam Umbridge, but next to nothing to actually report as no one but three members of the Outcasts currently in the school really knew what had happened.

Still speculation was rampant to say the least and the Prophet's reporter had put together the clues I had left behind just as I had hoped the Aurors would.

Death Eaters were blamed due to the Dark Mark which had been found over the Umbridge Estate. According to the paper only Voldemort's followers knew how to create the Dark Mark so for the writer of the article it was clear that Death Eaters were behind what was being called a kidnapping.

I was of course very pleased by this as the Death Eaters getting the blame had been part of my plan, but I was careful to hide my smile. It wouldn't do for the wand wavers at the school to think that I supported the actions of the Mort Munchers in anyway.

Admittedly I was somewhat disappointed that no one was saying that Voldemort was back. The paper speculated that the Death Eaters might have a new leader but nothing else was said on the subject. Fudge clearly had some major influence over the paper.

I thought it very strange that Dumbledore wasn't shouting about the return of Riddle from the rooftops and neither was Potter despite the fact that he must know due to his scar.

Then again Hermione had told me that Potter had told her the scar was fading, so perhaps the mental connection was broken.

How this had happened I could only imagine. I knew that it was possible to undo a Horcrux the creator simply had to feel genuine remorse for killing whoever it was who had died to create the Horcrux but Riddle couldn't feel remorse, he wasn't capable of that sort of feeling.

So how could the bit of soul inside Harry have been extracted?

I had planned to do such a thing myself. I'd learnt the magic required for such a deed while in Skyrim. My intention had been to extract the bit of soul inside The-Boy-Who-Lived and place it inside a Soul Gem.

This action would of made Harry's self sacrifice unnecessary, but I got the impression that someone had beaten me to the punch as it were.

I figured that is was for the best. If I was honest with myself I hadn't been looking forward to undertaking my planned action as I had no idea if it would of worked in practice. The theory was sound and I could extract complete animal souls and even put them back with the creature being no worse off for the experience, but a divided soul was trickier. The soul was not meant to be cut up it was suppose to stay whole.

"Damien".

I turned my head upwards to find the lad I'd been thinking of was now standing on the other side of the table.

"Potter" I replied curtly while pretending not to care that he was trying to engage me in conversation.

"I want to talk to you about Hermione".

While he might want to do that, but I didn't.

"What about Hermione?" I asked while trying to sound disinterested.

"I want to know what's going on with her".

Well that was a bit vague.

"Do you mean in general or did you have something in particular about her that you wished to discuss".

What I actually meant was. 'Is this about her or is it about me and her'.

"I just want to know how she is" clarified the boy hero "if she's happy or not".

Well that at least gave me somewhere to start.

"Leave us" I commanded and the Carrow twins did as they were told and left Potter and I to talk.

Harry was rather surprised by their obedience, but he said nothing about it he even obeyed me when I told him to sit down.

Since we were at the end of the single large table set out for the students there was little chance of us being overheard but I cast the privacy charm out of habit if nothing else.

"Right then" I said more causally while folding the newspaper "let's talk about Hermione".

Granger Residence. England. The Muggle World.

Currently the girl being discussed up in Scotland was at her family home many miles south of Hogwarts.

For once it wasn't raining, in fact it was quite pleasant outside, but Hermione had no desire what so ever to go outside. Mostly this was because outside was full of children who'd picked on in Primary School, but it was also because she was reading the morning paper and that was important to her.

"Sheogorath" the teen muttered.

The article mentioned that name a few times. Something about it bugged the youngest Granger to no end. She'd heard the name before but couldn't quite remember when.

Entire insane asylums scattered across the world, including the infamous Arkham Asylum, were now empty. Patients had vanished late in the night and the only thing they had in common was that they had all confessed to being worshippers of what they called the Mad God.

While there were few facts to the paper's story there was a lot of speculation both in the paper and on the radio. Hermione had taken careful note of it all but she wasn't one to take speculation seriously, she needed facts. The problem was that she couldn't find them.

Normally she'd be in the school library by now attempting to learn more but she was at home for the week as Damien had encouraged her to spend more time with her parents.

When Damien had advised her to go home for the Easter holidays she'd argued against the idea, but her lover had pointed out that as she got older she'd find that she had less in common with her Muggle family and they could grow apart. If so then it was best to spend time with them now.

Still the teenage girl longed to be back at school. Mostly because there was still so much to learn, but also because she missed her boyfriend/secret husband.

She'd tried calling him on the communication mirror she always carried on her person but he hadn't answered. She assumed that he was either having breakfast or that he was still in bed. Boys tended to like a lie in after all.

Hermione took a sip of her morning coffee and started to think about what she was going to do today. Her parents were at work running their dental practice, so she wouldn't see them until this evening which gave her most of the day to do whatever she pleased.

Not that she could do what pleased her. For that to happen Damien would have to be with her.

She'd invited him to stay at her home over Easter but he'd declined stating that he needed to catch up on his school work. If that was an excuse or not Hermione didn't know.

He might of just wanted to get out of meeting his girlfriend's parents. Hermione could understand that. Her own Dad had told her that he had dreaded meeting her Mother's family for the first time.

Well he wouldn't be able to avoid it for too long. Hermione planned to invite Damien to stay for a couple of weeks over the summer. There was no way she'd let the young wizard get out of that, not if he wanted to see her naked again.

Wanting to distract herself from the mix of boredom and loneness she was feeling Hermione started to read the Daily Prophet.

At once the headline caught her eye.

_Death Eaters Kidnap Senior Undersectary!_

The picture showed the Dark Mark floating in the sky above what Hermione assumed to be the Undersectrary's country home.

The teenage girl frowned as she read the article. Most of it wasn't very helpful but the clues added up and the reporter didn't sugercoat the facts. The Death Eaters were active.

Hermione knew more than most about what was going. Dumbledore had told Harry, who had of course told her, that Voldemort had returned. The so-called Dark Lord had, until now it seemed, been keeping a low profile in order to gather his forces before once more bringing terror to Britain.

Now that stage seemed to be over. Voldemort was openly attacking people. You-Know-Who hadn't been seen publicly but his Death Eaters had used the Dark Mark so they weren't hiding their activities any longer. It was just a matter of time now before the deaths started.

Naturally this concerned Hermione, in fact it scared her quite a bit. She wasn't that worried about herself as she be safe at school, but in the last war families of Muggleborns attending Hogwarts had been targeted making a lot of orphans.

She was more worried about her friend Harry. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would come after Harry and anyone with him would be in danger. But there wasn't anything she could really do about it. At least not yet anyway.

Despite all the badness going on in the world Hermione had to admit that underneath it all she was happier than she had ever been in her life. She had friends, a boy who liked her and a bright future ahead.

Things really could be a lot worse for her and she was happy with what she had.

The Great Hall. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World.

"So she's happy then" summarised the Boy-Who-Lived.

Potter had just sat there listening to what I had could say about his friend and her life, and that was all he got from it.

I really couldn't understand Harry Potter. He couldn't be as stupid as he looked but it didn't seem to be an act either. He could just be incredibly naïve but that didn't seem possible given his childhood. He should know that people aren't really kind hearted, and that adults don't always have a child's best interests at heart.

"Yes" I finally agreed "she's happy".

With that the boy hero left and I sat there wondering if he'd been probing me for information in a far more subtle method than I could detect. Potter could be a lot more sneaky than he seemed.

Then again he really could just be a dunderhead. I had no way of knowing and I didn't care enough about the Boy-Who-Lived to bother to find out.

The guy was so average in intelligence and wit that I just couldn't bring myself to care. For all his fame and glory, he wasn't very interesting in person and seemed to no ambitions as far as I could see.

Only the fact that I took oath compelled me to help him out at all, and that would only be in effect until Riddle was dealt with. After that I might end up killing him myself as Dumbledore would oppose me and Potter was his man after all.

Still I had to wonder if that was why I was keeping my distance?

At first I'd stayed away from the Chosen One because I didn't want to mess up events too much, but that excuse had stopped being valid long ago. Aside from that the main reason why I'd kept my distance was Dumbledore.

I didn't want to do anything that would draw even more of the Headmaster's attention towards me and making friends with his weapon would certainly do that. However that reason wasn't really valid any longer as I had drawn the Old Man's eye, even without meaning to.

Anyone else from my world who found themselves in my position would try to befriend Harry Potter, but not me. Maybe it was because I just couldn't relate to heroes. I'd lost of my affection for good guys as a child. I wasn't capable of understanding what motivates a hero because I don't feel the same things they do.

Yes I understood that sometimes you have to do what's right rather than easy, and I was also willing to put myself at risk to aid those I cared about but I couldn't imagine doing that so openly nor could I endanger myself for people I didn't know. I'd never understand what drives heroes to protect people who can't be bothered to try and protect themselves.

In my view any society that needed a hero like Potter was a society that should be allowed to fall. Any group of people who relied on teenage boys to save them weren't worth saving.

The only reason I was even bothering to try and make this world a better place was because of the prophecy. I knew that it was never a good idea to ignore what fate had planned and I knew that the more one tried to escape their fate the more likely it was that you'd end up bringing it about in the worse possible way. It was best accept one's destiny and try to complete it as quickly and as smartly as possible so you could get on with your life.

Potter seemed to sort of go with the flow as it were. Which wasn't such a bad idea really. I'd bet it was a lot less stressful than my life. I seemed to spend an amazing amount of time planning my future and scheming about how to bring about the changes I desired. Which wasn't really necessary as prophecies rarely come with any sort of time limit. I'd do what fate demanded in the end so why worry about it too much?

Maybe on some level Potter knew this, and that was why he didn't worry about things like destiny too much.

Now I was starting to see why the likes of Dumbledore and Snape went to the trouble of learning to scan people's surface thoughts. Most people are easy to understand and therefore also easy to manipulate. Hermione for all her intelligence is easy to figure out and can be made to dance like a puppet on strings if you know how to motivate her.

As for Potter well he is either as simple as he looks or far more complex than he appears. It would easily for me to assume that he is stupid but I got the sense that this would be a mistake.

As the old say goes _'never judge a book by its cover'_ and I wasn't too proud to admit that I had done that with Harry Potter.

With a sigh I started eating my breakfast and tried to think about something else.

My thoughts about the Boy-Who-Lived weren't getting me anywhere, my opinion on him kept changing the more I mused about him and really he just wasn't worth the headache I'd get if I tried to figure him out. To get the bottom of things I'd either have to read his mind or come out and ask him why he wasn't anything like the person he should be given his childhood.

I really just didn't understand heroes.

Author Note: That chapter was mostly about how I don't understand Harry Potter at all. I never understood why he became a hero. In my experience abused children mostly become bullies and then later abusive adults. Which is why Voldemort makes sense to me. I bet its something to do with being a good person some people just seem to be good no matter what. I'll never understand it.


	37. Chapter 37

**Reviews**

A W

It wouldn't surprise if Dumbledore found a way to dumb Harry down.

Selias

I just used the name as sometimes I like to drop in the titles of films and video games in my stories. Then again there's no reason why a version Batman can't exist in that world.

Tylermech66

Well yes there are real life heroes but our society wouldn't collapse if they didn't exist so I think my point is still valid about the Wizarding World not deserving to exist.

It reminds what happened in Elder Scrolls Oblivion. The Countess of Bruma comments that there was nothing anyone could do until a hero turns up to solve the problem of the Oblivion gates. It made me not want to bother saving them because they didn't seem worth saving.

Human Beings are remarkable creatures and as a group there isn't much we can't do, but the Wizards seem hopeless as a group it makes me despair it really does.

True your experiences do mould you as person its the old nature verses nurture argument. Harry got drilled with the Dumbledore is great rubbish from Hargid which did heavily influence his opinions on the Wizarding World.

War sage

Thank you.

Overlord Susanoo

Really I am (blushes), thank you.

I hate those stories too. People think just because you have knowledge of a fictional place it means you couldn't fail if you got inserted. Sure the knowledge would help and you would enjoy some successes if you used the information you had smartly but real life is unpredictable and you can't plan for everything. Damien knows this and does the best he can but hey nobody's perfect.

Mattblue.

Thanks and here's the update.

Z2010Deadmeat

I've heard of the expression 'he has a pure heart' you could be right about some people just being who they are and they can't chance. I doubt any childhood would make me a self sacrificing hero its just not in me. Which isn't to say I'm a bad person its just that could just never give up my life for strangers.

That's what Tamer Gothic did. His Pokegirls are bioweapons. I did plan on having him conquer worlds with legions of super human cat girls but I got sidetracked from writing that story.

Making bioweapon monsters would work as well but they wouldn't look as sexy in the bikini armour. Plus what would really be the point of unleashing a virus zombie doomsday army what would it get him? No point in ruling the universe if there's no one left alive to sing your praises.

Infinity Gems they ring a bell. I'll have to look them up and see if I can make use of them.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 37.**

**The Department Of Mysteries. Ministry Of Magic. The Wizarding World. **

It was times like this I really wished I could make use of a Hand Of Glory but for some reason using such a thing counted as Necromancy. It shouldn't in my opinion but there were rules even I couldn't break.

So instead I had to rely on the Magelight spell which I created little balls of light which could be thrown and they would attach to surfaces lighting up an area. Casting the spell made a target but there didn't seem to be anyone around. Plus every time I used the spell it became easier to cast so there was some advantage to using it to guide my path.

With my other I was casting Clairvoyance I'd learned this little bit of magic when attending the College of Winterhold but until now I'd not used it. That had been foolish of me as it was an extremely handy little trick which was now guiding me to my objective.

Getting to the Department of Mysteries had been easy enough. With the portal spell I could go anywhere I pleased regardless of whatever wards were up, but since I didn't know precisely where the prophecy was I couldn't teleport to its exact location. That was were the Clairvoyance Spell came in.

The trail of light ended at a shelf and I scanned it looking for the right prophecy. The Magelight spell suddenly ended so I switched to Candlelight which created a small orb of light that would hover around me for the next five minutes give or take a few seconds. How long the spell lasted was proportionate to the power level of the caster so the fact that I could hold it for more than a few minutes was a good indicator of just how strong I was becoming.

Once I had light again the prophecy record wasn't hard to find given that it had my name on it.

S.P.T to D.M.

The End Of The World.

That was a bit of exaggeration, at least in my opinion. I wasn't going to end the world but I could see how the prophecy could be labelled as such given that it was destiny to take down the Ministry. From the perspective of the Pureblood elite it would indeed be the end of the world.

My research into the prophecy records had told me that in order to get a record to play you had to shake it like a snowglobe. Damn silly way to do it but the Wizards of this world never did things the smart way.

_"The Chosen One has come with great fanfare to save the wretched above all others"_

Potter's arrival into the Wizarding World pre-dated mine so the first part of the prophecy was a sort of warning.

Shake.

_"Lead by the Blinding Lord who sits upon a throne of ignorance."_

Clearly Dumbledore. His fame and power blinded others to what he was. As for the throne of ignorance that could refer to the school he ran. I had no trouble associating the word ignorance with those who lived at Hogwarts. The student body seemed to incapable actually forming their own opinions.

Shake.

_"Against the Dark Master and his slaves they will clash"._

Well the students wouldn't be fighting Tom Riddle for a while yet but given that many of the members of the Order were either staff at the school or former students that still made some sense.

It was doubtful that the prophecy was referring to the Wizarding World as a whole because very few of them would actually fight the Dark Lord, but those that would did follow Dumbledore.

Shake.

_"While the Watchmen look away, the Judges are bought with gold, and the Scribes author deceptions."_

This part was pretty clear. Crimes of the rich are ignored. Justice can be brought. And the Daily Prophet misleads the masses.

Shake.

_"Unknown to them a Traveller has come and placed a mason to demolish __the monolith they stand upon."_

Now that was the bit that concerned me.

For a line in a prophecy it was rather clear as to what it meant. The Traveller had put me in a position to destroy the Wizarding World. As for the mason part well masonry was as old as civilization itself. A mason built things out of stone, but they didn't tend to demolish them.

hen again anyone who knew how to build things out of stone would be well suited to figuring out how to destroy someone else's stonework. But I'd never built a society so the choice in words seemed a bit odd to me. Simply referring to the name the Traveller had given me was a little too straight forward for a prophecy.

I shook the prophecy a couple of more times and listened to the end.

_"He will stand before the Fallen Lord, The Dark Master, The Watchmen, The Judges, The Scribes, and all the others that stood by and took no action. He will deliver to them all Judgement."_

It really sounded as if I was going to have a lot of enemies before too long, and how the hell was I going to deliver to them to judgement?

If the prophecy had said deliver judgement or bring them to justice it would mean that I'd be dealing with them all directly but I was suppose to deliver them to judgement which sounded like it was my job to bring them to someone who would judge them rather than to do it myself.

Of course it could just mean that I would bring about enough social change bring down the evil and corrupt people in the Wizarding so that they were no longer above the law they should be serving. That at least sounded plausible.

I lost the light again and was just about to recast the spell when I heard footsteps. Quickly I pocketed the prophecy and prepared myself to cast another spell.

With ease that came only due to practice I used a weak invisibility spell. I knew spells that would hide me completely but they were easily broken and didn't last for long but it was so dark down here that even a Chameleon Spell would make a person undetectable.

I forced myself to take a deep breathe in order to calm down. No one would be able to see me but they could still hear me so I had to stand stock still and be as quiet as the grave.

A strange hissing noise filled the air and I watched as black robed man and a massive snake moved past the shelf I was standing by.

It was Voldemort I was sure. I didn't understand parseltongue, even with the translation amulet on, but I knew the speech of serpents when I heard it and only two people in the country spoke it. Harry Potter and Tom Riddle.

Harry Potter didn't have a pet snake and neither was he tall enough to be the robed figure, so that meant it must be Lord Voldemort. The fact that two other robed and masked figures were following the Dark Lord proved my deduction.

Once I was sure the group of Dark Wizards had passed me by I breathed out heavily and realised how lucky I was. Voldemort's pet snake (Nagini she was called if memory served) wasn't fooled by invisibility spells of any sort so she could of detected me.

I was just about to run away when I realised that I had an opportunity here. Nagini was as Horcrux the serpent had to die in order for Voldemort to be defeated. I might not get another chance to take the snake out, but I could also get myself killed.

Fear filled my heart and despite how cold it was I was sweating, yet I knew I had to do something.

_"He will stand before the Fallen Lord, The Dark Master, The Watchmen, The Judges, The Scribes, and all the others that stood by and took no action. He will deliver to them all Judgement."_

Riddle was the Dark Master I was fated to bring him to judgement so that could mean I might be the one to end his reign of terror or even get him arrested. Well it was very doubtful I could capture the Dark Lord and even if I did no one was brave enough, aside from maybe Dumbledore, to actually arrest him. Not that there wouldn't be much point because the chief Death Eater would escape rather easily if only because he was fated to die at Harry Potter's hands, assuming my prophecy didn't invalidate the one about Voldemort.

After taking another deep breathe I wished that I had waited until after the Easter Holidays before making this outing. I promised myself that next time I left the school I would be wearing battle robes and hopefully my armour.

Quickly I waved my wand and used a few spells upon myself I silenced my shoes and then disillusioned myself, which was an odd experience, before casting the Detect Life Spell.

My objective was the snake, my plan was to kill it and then portal out before anyone could react. There was only one spell I could use that had the remotest chance of succeeding.

Fiendfyre.

I blasted the snake with a fox made of flame engulfed the foul serpent and I was just about to vanish when I saw red, and then I saw nothing at all.

Riddle House. Little Hangleton. The Muggle World.

"_Crucio"._

I awakened to a world of pain. It was as if my nerve endings had been dipped in acid. Every part of me felt agony, and just when I thought it would never end it stopped. And then unfortunately it started again.

Most of the time pain is a teacher, its actually rather helpful if you think about it. If something damages your body pain tells you its happening and you quickly learn not to let yourself be damaged like that again. At least if you can help it.

However the pain induced by the crucio spell is not a teacher, its not helpful. The crucio spell is a means of torture nothing more and while I was personally not above using pain as a method of interrogation.

I felt that it was not only wrong to hurt someone or the sake of causing pain it was also pointless and rather stupid given that this method of torture was known to drive people insane. You can't get useful information out of an insane person, and only a complete monster gets off on torturing children.

When the spell finally stopped and wasn't cast again I got a chance to see who had been hurting me for kicks. I didn't like what I saw and I reacted accordingly.

"Yaxley!"

I knew this man. He was a bigot of the worst kind and a bully. Neville had over the years told me a lot about Death Eaters, but I hadn't needed his information to know what Yaxley was about.

Anyone sick enough to work along with Umbridge to persecute Muggleborns was worthy of nothing but my contempt. In my view he was no different than one of the Nazis who had run the concentration camps during WWII.

"Recognise me do ya" he replied with a smirk "ave we met?".

For a Pureblood surpremist he had a very common sounding accent. Perhaps the Yaxley family weren't as Upper Class as they appeared.

"Not unless you were at the World Cup" I answered with in venom in my voice.

It was doubtful he'd been in the Forbidden Forest as if he had been he'd either of been dead for a while now or he would have a nasty scar where I had cursed him. Since he was alive and unblemished he'd likely been at the World Cup.

"Yeah it cost me a more a few knuts to get out of being Kissed" admitted the Death Eater with a grin plastered over his face "but the Minister, bless him, saw things my way once my gold was in his hands. I was under the Imperius Curse. I swear".

Damn you Fudge!

If I got of this I was going to exile the Minister to the most unpleasant world I could find. A world were all his money and political power meant nothing, or at least would mean nothing until some horrible creature ate him.

"Lucky for you the Dark Lord isn't here right now" informed the Mort Muncher who was making the classic villain mistake of giving a captive too much information "so that leaves you to my tender..."

A sort of gong sound reached my ears and Yaxley left without explanation, but he didn't forget to lock the door behind him.

This made me smile as a locked door was nothing to me. I could phase through solid objects after all. Not that they knew that but really a locked door. I was a Wizard, didn't they know that.

The Death Eaters had at least taken my wand, and being arrogant pricks they had assumed that this would render me helpless. To be fair most teenage Wizards would be, and I was just a schoolboy so they weren't being that foolish. Still chaining up would be of been sensible.

I came up with three escape plans in a matter of seconds but I dismissed them all after noticing that it was daytime. There was a window, but it was too small climb out however it did tell me that the sun has risen.

This meant that it was too late to simply portal back to the school. By now someone would of noticed that I was missing. The rest of the student body were due back today and so the Heads of Houses would be checking the Dorms to make sure everything was in order. The Charms teacher who led my school house would do a quick head count and notice I was not where I should be.

So I needed to account for where I had been all last night and this morning. The best way to do that would be to provide a memory of this event but I'd have extract the memory before I used my powers to escape. Then I'd have to come with a method of escape that was plausible even if I didn't use it all of it.

It didn't take me long to think of something. After all I was much smarter than the average bear.

"Tizzy!" I shouted out.

My trusty House Elf appeared before me, and took a moment to figure out what was going on.

"Master should not be here!" protested the magical being "this is the home of a bad wizard. Master is in danger!".

Well duh.

"Jeez ya think" I said being rather short with diminutive creature, mostly likely due to the short torture session I'd endured.

Tizzy looked rather upset when I told her off so I forced myself to calm down and gave her an order.

"Go to my school trunk, get me a wand, and a small potion's phial. I'll also need some parchment and a quill".

Without questioning why her master required such a things. My Elf vanished and the reappeared with the asked for items seconds later.

I quickly wrote a note to Dumbledore explaining that I had been captured, but that my House Elf had come to my aid. I had to pretend that I didn't know that Tizzy could simply set me free. I also explained that I had sent Tizzy to get my mother's wand, as this would explain why I had a spare in my school truck, with that wand I could extract a memory and send it to him saying I hoped it would aid him in rescuing me. Finding Yaxley would be far easier than finding me as Yaxley worked for the Ministry making him a public figure.

Really the whole plan was more complex than it needed to be but if I came up with a smoother plan it would simply let the Headmaster know I was smarter than he thought I was. Plus I wanted Dumbledore to think I looked up to him like all the other children to blinded by his reputation to understand what he really was.

Sending him a SOS was a good way to make him believe that I saw him as someone I could go to for help. Which was a complete lie, but it was a lie that served my purpose.

I planned to escape by sneaking out of here under the disillusion charm, which was advanced spellwork but it was nothing that a Hogwart's student couldn't find in the library. In fact I had actually found the spell in the library.

Once I got out of this house I would just summon the Knight Bus and go right to Hogsmede. When I arrived I would be relativity safe and free to kick up a fuss like an actual escaped child would.

Between those two events I was going to search this house so I could find and kill Yaxley. The I would use the portal spell to dumb his body somewhere and then return for the final part of my somewhat overcomplicated, but still rather brilliant, escape plan.

Of course no plan of action survives contact with the enemy and this was proven when as soon as Tizzy was sent away the Death Eater I wanted to kill oh so badly re-entered the room.

Before the child abusing, murderer could react lightening struck him down. Bolts of electrical power left the palm of my free hand and drove the Death Eater to the floor.

Since I'd never managed to perform the Killing Curse I pocketed the wand and used both hands to electrocute the bastard. It took him a while to die as I wasn't well practised at destruction magic but I had plenty of power and rage in me to fuel the spell.

Once I stood over a very dead and foul smelling body I did something I'd never done before: I looted the body.

I didn't know why I was doing it. I'd never done it before but for some reason I wanted something to remember this buy. It wasn't quite trophy taking as the now dead scumbag hadn't put up a fight worthy of remembering. he hadn't even been able to draw his wand before I'd defeated him ) but I still took his wand as the spoils of war and I also found my wand.

Killing Yaxley had been a favour to Wizardkind. Really only a complete fool would carry a captive's weapon in the captive's cell. He might as well have worn the key to this room on a chain attached to his belt.

I couldn't help but sigh when I did find the key attached to a chain connected to his belt. Why did he even have a key? There were spells to lock and unlock doors. A key wasn't needed.

Really I shouldn't of been that surprised by this fuck up. Yaxley hadn't even bothered to remove the pouch I wore around my waist. The pouch itself couldn't be taken from my person without permission but that wouldn't of stopped him from removing my belt.

Idiot!

Well too many generations of inbreeding will do that to a society. No wonder Riddle had been able to win the loyalties of so many Purebloods. They were so easy to manipulate, as proven by the fact that Granger, the only Muggleborn Outcast, had taken far more time and effort to get under my control than the so called superior Purebloods who had practical bowed at my feet from day one. If anyone but Dumbledore was in charge at Hogwarts I'd of taken over the school by now. Heck if I ever got around to killing the old goat I might actually take it over.

With another sigh on my lips I waved my wand in order to test that I still had its loyalty and said the word_"Avis" _as hoped for a flock of birds flew out of my wand and out the small windows which turned out to have been open the whole time.

Really an open window, it was like they wanted me to escape.

That thought made me stop for a second. Could this all be planned? Did Voldemort want to me to go running back to Hogwarts?

I could think of a few reasons why Riddle might arrange something like this but then I remembered Hanlon's Razor.

_Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity._

There was no big scheme involved, these Pureblood fools had simply fucked up by underestimating me and I'd gotten lucky what with Riddle being elsewhere for some reason.

Very lucky in fact given that the Dark Lord should of killed me, but for motives only know to him he hadn't. Perhaps the snake faced freak wanted to interrogate me, in order find out why I had tried to kill his pet snake.

Knowing that I needed to get rid of the body I know had to decide on which world I dumped the body. If I left the body here it would clue the Mort Munchers into how powerful I really was but if both me and the body vanished the Death Eaters might assume that someone else had rescued me and also captured my torturer, or that Yaxley had let me escape and done a runner in order to escape punishment.

Then an idea came to me. I did know of a place and a person who had a use for dead bodies. He might also be able to help me come up with a way to defeat Voldemort.

With a smile on my face I used the Portal Spell to disappear and took myself somewhere far away from here.


	38. Chapter 38

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTICE!**

Hopefully that got your attention.

Now onto business. I am planning a new story that involves a Gothic turning up in the Forgotten Realms after being invited to play D&D at a convention for Wargamers.

How this differs from my normal self insert stories is that this time Gothic isn't the only one going. The Traveller has invited others and there are many of these events going on world wide. All the people invited are going to end up playing a very real and deadly game of Dungeons and Dragons.

So what I need from you guys are at least three characters suitable to got the Forgotten Realm. I want those of you who review my stories and take the time to message me ideas to come up with self inserts to join Adventure Gothic on his quests.

If you've read my stories you know what I'm looking for when I say self insert characters. You can easily imagine yourself being thrown into a real life D&D game.

The plot demands (for reasons that will become clear later) that your character must have powers and skills not native to that game. You need to be a class known to D&D but not from that setting. So you can be a Dragonborn warrior, a wand waving Wizard or an Assassin Creed assassin. Naturally your characters will become stronger as the story progresses so don't pick something too powerful or your character will have to appear in the story later and therefore won't get as much mention.

Since your character will be rather basic to start with don't worry about having a full character sheet just send me basic information such as your adventure name (which should be your full account name or part of it like I use Gothic) your real first name or nickname if that is how you are known. Just your first name don't give out personal details please. Your character's age, race, gender and such.

Remember that your a self insert so the person your playing won't have their own history but you should have some details about your own life you can share. Examples would be if your in still school, have a job, maybe a special someone who you miss and son on. Little things that your fellow self inserts can talk about to other self inserts around the camp fire between quests.

Also your character shouldn't be too good or too evil neutral/grey is better because I don't write heroes or extreme villains very well.

The two most important parts about your character is what motivation they have for playing, and how they react to the game world.

Players who defeat the big bad of the game (i.e the ones teamed up with Gothic) are going to be rewarded with godhood this includes awesome powers, immortality, and your own magical realm to rule as you see fit.

So as you can imagine lots of people will be motivated to get that prize so that can be your character's long term goal. Some people will just want to go home so they need to survive in the short term and become powerful enough in magic to make a portal or rich enough to pay a Wizard to get them home. Other people might just be accepting their new lot in life and want to settle down after making some money. A few could even just want to conquer Osse (the setting) and rule it as an emperor. Hell if you want your character can go utterly mad and have to be put down by other adventurers.

Your character's reaction to the game world is also very important. Your character might not think anything is real and therefore not care about what they are doing to other people. Or they could want to gain power without going for the prize by becoming great Wizards or conquering Warlords.

Others might see this game as a chance to live out their fantasies of being heroes or even villains as long as they aren't to extreme. I don't want anyone to start sacraficing babies to demons there are limits to what even a demented pervert like me will write about.

This chance to have a self insert is only open to those who take the time to login and message me if your a guest don't bother as I need to be able to message people back. Priority will be given to regular reviewers but even if you have never reviewed my stories but still bother to follow/fave me as an author than message me anyway as I will need one shot characters. For example you might just want to be someone from Earth who entered the game and opened a shop that my character visits so you don't need to be a player even to get a mention.

I will message you back and let you know if I need more details so don't go overboard as I really don't need that much information to start with I want our character to develop over time.

Later you might want to write a short chapter yourself even if its just a few hundred words which explain your character's motivation or opinion on another character. I'm happy to add that to my story if I feel it works and we can do that once you guys have a grasp of the story. Your short chapters don't even have to involve the main story line. For example you could just write about your self insert character getting lost in the woods and battling some monster about to eat an some poor virgin before dying of their wounds their heroism remaining unknown even to the one they saved.

I also need a beta for this story if your good with grammar let me know I suck at proof reading due my dyslexia. If possible I want a British Beta Reader as I use U.K spelling and grammer, ableit badly.

Anyway feel free to message me and share ideas. Thanks for reading this very long author note.

**Reviews. **

**tylermech66 **

I think that both nature and nurture play very important parts in a person's development but in the end people make their own choices and are responsible for their own actions.

**Winter Feline**

He didn't escape right away he was knocked out most of the time, and if Damien was purely a wand wizard he wouldn't of been able to escape but he has powers the Death Eaters don't know about and we know that wand wavers have no idea what House Elves can do.

Damien will deal with the Death Eaters well actually he and Necromancer Gothic will because Necromancer Gothic is a real Dark Lord who knows what he's doing.

If the two Gothics can deal with the Mort Munchers quickly enough then Damien will able to return to Hogwarts.

******Guest**

Kicked it?

**Lord Edric **

Amen brother. This world and others beyond are full of stupid people. It makes me despair sometimes.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 38.**

**The Silent City. Blackreach. Skyrim.**

My arrival had been unexpected but I wasn't unwelcome. Upon reaching the home of my Necromancer counter-part I'd been treated like an honoured guest and gotten the whole red carpet treatment. Which made me feel rather paranoid as I'd thought that the whole thing was some attempt to get me lower my guard.

Despite the odd amount of attention I was getting from the locals I did get the chance to look around and I was rather impressed by what I saw.

From distance the Dwarf city still looked much the same as it had when I'd seen it while playing Skyrim, aside from the female Necromancers moving around performing whatever tasks they had been given and dead creatures at their command.

From this far away I couldn't exactly how many skeleton archers there were, but there seemed to be a lot. Blackreach was clearly well defended and it wasn't just the city that was being used by the Necromancers. Where once the Dwarves of the this world had made this place their home now Necromancers lived in the houses that had been rebuilt and they oversaw the dead thralls that tended the farms.

From what little I knew about Necromancy here in Skyrim, the thralls needed constant supervision when working as while they kept the skills they'd had in life they were unable to learn anything new or adapt to rapidly changing situations so different Thralls were needed for different chores and they also had to be told when to stop or start a certain task. If they weren't supervised then at best nothing would get done and at worse things could go horribly wrong.

While making my way towards wherever it was I was being escorted to I walked past groups of dead which were mining the ore found all over Blackreach this task was lot more complex than playing the game had suggested as it required a lot more effort than merely swinging a pickaxe. Like on the farms the dead doing all the work digging things up just like they would have done so in life. Death hadn't changed that much at least.

Once inside the Silent City I was led by two female Imperials, who like the rest were both half naked for some reason, they guided me to a throne room and offered a rather nice seat before being left alone with the Dark Wizard who I had come to see.

"I need your help" I said as soon as we were alone.

My Necromancer counterpart didn't react, or at least he made no reaction I could see. His head being covered by a hood made reading his facial expressions rather tricky.

"What troubles you?" inquired the other version of myself "I can tell that something concerns you greatly".

Indeed I was deeply troubled.

Rather foolishly I'd not stopped to check that I still had the prophecy record before leaving Riddle House. Voldemort would of wanted to find out why I had been at the Department at the same time he had, so naturally he would of examined the prophecy record I'd been carrying.

While the prophecy didn't exactly state that I was a threat to Voldemort it did suggest that I would stand against him. No Dark Lord would allow a potential threat like me to keep on breathing so I was now in great danger.

Quickly I explained my woes and the older version of myself listened intently to every detail before saying.

"So you want me kill Voldemort for you" he stated.

I didn't think he actually could but it was worth trying. It might be possible to exile Tom Riddle to another world or at least to destroy his body but I couldn't manage something like that on my own. While I had the power I lacked the experience needed to take on a Dark Lord, and that was why I'd gone to another Dark Lord for help.

"Yes I want you to kill him or at least make sure he can't kill me".

The Necromancer didn't take long to come up with a plan.

"Now that you know where Riddle is there a simple method to defeating him. Fate might not allow you to kill him but we can easily render him a non-threat, at least for a while".

What the Necromancer had just said was oddly put but I understood that he had an idea on how to banish my troubles for a while.

"How?" I questioned.

The offered answer to my problems was something I never would of come up with.

"Since you know where he is based I can supply you with a bomb powerful enough to destroy his family home. It won't kill Voldemort but it will destroy his current body and any followers he has with at the time the bomb goes off. We will need to ensure that he is actually on the premise before transporting the bomb but scrying is a simple trick".

I had a crystal ball from the Discworld that would serve such a purpose, so finding the Dark Lord wouldn't be difficult as long as he returned to his base of operations, but I did see one flaw in this scheme.

"Won't the magic interfere with the bomb going off" I pointed out "Wand magic and Muggle tech don't mix very well".

The death magic using Wizard disagreed.

"Its highly doubtful that the wand magic will stop a countdown on a bomb. The Riddle House is a Muggle home it won't have known enough magic to disable technology that quickly".

He made a good point, even the sheer amount of magic at Hogwarts didn't disable electrical devices in mere seconds so there was really no reason for me to be concerned.

"So you can get me a bomb?" I asked.

I would also have liked to have known why a Necromancer had a bomb at all, but I didn't dare to demand to much from him.

"Of course I can" he replied "I have a contacts on other worlds, and they will supply me with what you need".

He was being awfully generous. A little too generous actually.

"In return I want something from you".

Ah here it comes the price for his aid would no doubt be a high one.

"In return for my aid you make an Unbreakable Vow which will ensure that you never become a threat to me".

That was actually quite reasonable all things considered. I would have to make sure that the oath was phrased the right way but other than that I saw no problems with this action as it wasn't as if I would ever attack my Necromancer double. Given the resources he commanded and his knowledge of the darkest art it would be the height of foolishness to make war on him.

However I had to consider the fact that such a vow wouldn't in turn protect me from my counterpart.

In the end I decided to take that risk. I could always leave the Wizarding World if I wished and start elsewhere along with any of the Outcasts who would come with me. There were plenty of worlds with Wizards in the omni-verse so I'd always have somewhere to go and people to learn from.

"Very well" I said "I'll make the Unbreakable Vow".

I might come to regret it later, but my only other option was to the flee the Wizarding World and start over. I really didn't want to do that and given the prophecy I might not really have a choice but to stay. If I did stay at Hogwarts I'd been in terrible danger as Voldemort would come after me, and unless I got the time I needed to complete my training I had no chance of ever beating Riddle.

"If you want to destroy Voldemort you need to take out his Horcruxs" reminded the Necromancer "how many have you destroyed?".

"There's just the Locket and the Cup left" I answered.

"You'll need to deal with the one in Potter's scar" my alternate self reminded.

The reminder wasn't needed that issue was dealt with already and I explained that Harry's scar was fading. Neither of us could figure out how it had been done but we both could of done it ourselves so we knew it wasn't an impossible feat.

My alternate self adjusted himself and sat more causally on the throne as we discussed some other matters. Both of us were careful about what we said but there was little to worry about when it came to comparing our childhoods experiences and our current situations.

"As I see your already more powerful than you need to be" stated the pale skinned Necromancer "you have a wide range of spells to call upon and once your an adult again you'll have more than enough resources to call upon. What your lacking is training. Going to Hogwarts is all well and good if your planning to live a somewhat normal life in the Wizarding World, but judging by what you have told me you're not going not going to have a normal life. If you are to become to the Wizard you need to be then you need more practical experience".

He had a fair point there. I really did have more power than I knew what to do with, but in order to realise my full potential I needed to start learning how to use my magic and not to just learn more spells.

Power is easy to obtain, wisdom and knowledge not so much.

Looking at my watch I realised that time was as ever ticking away. I wouldn't of minded sticking around in order to find out more about the Necromancer and the things he got up to, but I did need to get back to the school. My absence would be worrying those I cared about and those who at least should care about my welfare. If I didn't soon return I wouldn't be able to explain my absence.

"I have to get back soon" I told my alternate self "if we're going to use a bomb to blow up Riddle's base then we need to do it soon. I can summon the Knight Bus and get to Hogsmede easily enough, but that shouldn't of taken this long".

My current plan was to return to my cell with a bomb and then start a countdown just before levitating myself out of the open window. Then I could run like hell, summon the Knight Bus and be back at school before the day ended.

"Get the bus from a nearby town" suggested the Necromancer "that way you can claim to have gotten lost".

That made sense. I could indeed claim have gotten lost.

It was quite believable that a child could get lost in the countryside, and then have stumbled across civilization a few hours later. Britain wasn't a large nation after all and while it did have wilderness you couldn't keep moving for days on end without stumbling across something like a farm or a road. Once you found a road you just had to follow it to the nearest town or city, you could even hitch-hike your way home.

Knowing that time was of the essence my counter-part and I got to work. The Unbreakable Vow was made and my alternate self took me to another version of Earth. There he purchased a bomb from some terrorists who seemed to know about magic and I was instructed on how to set the timer.

Once I had the explosive device I returned to the cell that had held me and made my planned escape.

**Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

"That was quite the adventure" remarked Albus Dumbledore as I finished filling him in about what had happened to me recently.

What I'd told him was a mixture of outright lies and half-truths but I was more than capable of lying to the old man's face.

It helped that I could show him the Pensive memory of me hiking towards Great Hangleton, and also of me summoning the Knight Bus which had then taken me to Hogsmede.

There was nothing in the memories I'd shown to reveal that there was a gap between summoning my House Elf and my escape. Modifying memories was tricky but it was easier to control when a memory started and ended.

"I'm not sure I'd call being kidnapped by a Death Eater an adventure" I said to the Professor.

I'd shown the Headmaster my memory of my interaction with Yaxley. Neither of us had said anything that I didn't want the Headmaster to know about.

Yaxley had admitted his guilt but that wasn't in question. All I had admitted to was that I had been at the World Cup which was public knowledge.

There was no need for me to supply more memories either as from Dumbledore's point of view everything made sense. I'd lied and said that I had been at school when I was taken, or at least I remembered being at school before waking up in that cell. There wasn't anything to disprove this nor was there any need to confirm it. \

Yaxley was dead at my hands and my scrying had confirmed that Voldemort was inside Riddle House when it went boom.

I didn't know if the other Death Eater was also caught in the blast but one Mort Muncher didn't concern me as without their master the Bigot Brigade weren't much of a threat. Even that DE was a threat and didn't know who he or she was so there wasn't anything I could do about it anyway.

At least Voldemort was gone for now. He wasn't dead but his body would have been destroyed returning him to his ghost form. Riddle might be able to possess someone, but restoring himself to another body would take months. The Dark Lord didn't have many followers left now and it was doubtful that those who remained would seek him out, not after being defeated once again. Still Tom Riddle wasn't gone, he would return one day. All I had really gained myself was time, and I would have to make use of that time wisely.

"It was certainly an ordeal" agreed Dumbledore "few people your age could of escaped the clutches of Lord Voldemort".

I hadn't mentioned Voldemort at all so I was rather surprised that Dumbledore had mentioned the Dark Lord since nothing in the memories I'd shown him suggested that Riddle had anything to do with my kidnapping.

The Headmaster read my worried expression and thankfully misinterpreted what it meant.

"Yes Damien you were in the custody of the Dark Lord. I don't know why he had an agent of his kidnap you but I can speculate a few possible reasons".

The actual reason had to do with me killing his snake. I suspected that Voldemort had left the house to inspect is other Horcruxs, or at least the ones that he could get to. He'd find them gone and would of gotten frantic, perhaps he might even of broken in Gringotts to check on Hufflepuff's Cup. I hadn't gotten around to destroying that one, as of yet, nor the Locket but I knew where that one was at least.

With my scrying magic it wouldn't be hard to locate the Cup if Riddle had moved it. At some point I was going to have to destroy both the soul anchors and soon since I was now on the Dark Lord's hit list. Even without the Prophecy record, which declared me to be a threat to him, Riddle would still come after me because I had stood up to him and targeted a Horcrux.

Since I hadn't replied to Dumbledore the Headmaster decided to carry on with what he was saying. He didn't seem concerned that I wasn't paying attention but that made sense since from his point of view I was a student who'd been captured and briefly tortured, no one expect someone who'd been thought such an ordeal to be chatty.

"I suspect that Voldemort was after your wealth".

That drew my attention as I hadn't considered that money might be what motivated Riddle to show interest in me.

"Wars are expensive things" explained the Headmaster "Voldemort made use of the Malfoy family fortune in the past. The money was used to bribe ministry employees and to pay for the services of dark creatures".

That made sense as while the Death Eaters were motivated by the desire to cleanse their world of undesirables, i.e. anyone who wasn't one of them, creatures such as vampires, werewolves, trolls and giants weren't even human, never mind Purebloods, so the Dark Lord would have to purchase their services. Gold was rather good for that.

This was something I would keep in mind.

"So You-Know-Who was after my money" I summarised, taking care not to the use the name Voldemort as only one student in the school ever used publicly "was he planning to brainwash me?".

"Possibly," replied Dumbledore "or he might of simply demanded that you serve him in exchange for sparing your life".

A crude method of gather followers, but it could be quite effective if enough fear was involved. I much preferred my method of recruitment. It was far better to win the loyalty of others so that you had true comrades in arms rather than to bully people into joining your gang.

Many of Voldemort's followers had abandoned him when Potter had become the Boy-Who-Lived but I knew that if something similar ever happened to me (not that I would ever attack helpless babies) my minions would not so easily deny me and they would work to restore me to power if possible.

In fact it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Luna already had plans in place in case the worse did happen. She might not of been able to predict that I would encounter Riddle in the Department but no doubt she would of foreseen me die and would of planned accordingly.

She wouldn't tell me if she had. All Seers know that you never tell someone how they will die because it often leads to that person dying while either attempting to escape or even accepting their fate. Ironically a person is far more likely to avoid a sudden and gruesome end if they don't know its coming.

"Because of this your usual Summer plans will have to be cancelled" said Dumbledore.

Wait, what now?

"You are somewhat safe while in school," I couldn't help but make a noise of disagreement but it was ignored by the teacher. "but outside of Hogwarts you would in much greater danger. I will arrange for you to spend the holidays somewhere secure".

I was about to protest but the Headmaster cut me off.

"Not to worry you will not be alone. Miss Granger will join you later in the Summer and Miss Weasly will there too".

Ah so he was going to send me to the Headquarters of the Order. That was truly wonderful news. I'd be able to get the Locket easily. On the downside I'd have to spend time with the entire Weasly family, but aside from Molly and Ron none of them were really that annoying, and Ron was long gone.

I had to wonder how this would effect the Traveller's plans to send me to another summer school. If Dumbledore was expecting me to go where he sent me then I couldn't see how I got to another world for a couple of months once the school term was over.

I'd just have to wait and see how things turned out, before finding out. No doubt the Traveller would work his will and make it happen as he had done so before.

"Will that be all Headmaster?" I asked.

Understandably I was rather tired and clearly it showed as I got a look of sympathy from the leader of the school.

"Yes, you may go" allowed Dumbledore "visit the Hospital Wing if you need a Dreamless sleep potion or something for the pain".

I wouldn't need either as I never had bad dreams and there didn't seem to be any after effects from the torture curse, perhaps this was due to the enhancements the Traveller had made to me or could just be that I was made of tougher stuff that most Wizards. Whatever the reason I was grateful for it as it allowed me to go to bed and get some sleep rather easily, and after all I'd gotten up in the last twenty-four hours I really did need a goodnight of sleep.


	39. Chapter 39

**Reviews **

**tylermech66 **

Cosmic Horrors are indeed cosmicly horrible blame Lovecraft for making me liking them.

Yes its called a character sheet at least for a single character. If its an army your controlling its then called an OOB or order of battle.

**Qaletaqa**

Thanks.

******A.W**

Dumbledore doesn't have the authority to tell Harry Potter where he can and can't go. Nor does he have the authority to have founded and lead the Order of the Phoenix. Yet the Headmaster does these things anyway and people obey him. Why? Because he's Dumbledore.

Also while Damien could refuse he won't because going along with Dumbledore suits his long term plans. He wants to find the Locket not that's it there because it was never a Horcrux so that won't go well.

As for the D&D story no one knows what the reward is until after the game starts. By that point people will be forced into seeking the reward as RPGs have a way of forcing players to follow the plot.

******Overlord Susanoo**

Thank you.

******Selias **

Fleur won't be there but Tonks will and there is no Remus around. But to Tonks, Damien is just a teenage boy so I don't see his charms working on her very well she is an Auror after all and she'd an avid Dumbledore supporter.

Joe Lawyer

People who have been kidnapped and tortured are rarely sensible thinkers, at least not until they've had some time to deal with the trauma.

Damien felt he couldn't deal with Voldemort so he went looking for help. Yes it wasn't the smart thing to do but Damien was scared and felt unable to deal with the problem by himself, so he turned for help from... well himself really.

******Lord Edric**

Actually the oath was for Damien not to wage war on the Necromancer which does have some wiggle room in it.

Plus Damien is already planning to move to a new world so he doesn't have to fight, as you will see in this chapter.

However the Necromancer doesn't want to fight Damien because he's too busy supplying his Daedric Prince counterpart with dead cannon fodder. Plus he's now off to invade the Forgotten Realms in Adventure Gothic which was partly why ensuring peace with Wizard Gothic was so important to him.

******War Sage and Mattblue**

Thanks guys.

**Author Note:**

This chapter is dedicated to Redthebattler whose exchange of ideas with me was a major help in shaping the long term plot of this story.

**The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part 39. **

**Ravenclaw Tower. Hogwarts. The Wizarding World. **

It was hard to believe that it had been less than a weak since I'd been captured by the Dark Lord before escaping and then blowing up his family home with a bomb my Necromancer counterpart had acquired from a rather nice group of terrorists/freedom fighters who were fighting tyranny on a very, very alternative version of Earth.

Watching Riddle Manor getting blown to bits had been a very therapeutic experience for me and as the house had gone boom I'd felt a lot of my concerns go up with the Dark Lord's base of operations.

Since that day I'd kept my head down and had thrown myself into studying or at least that was what I had been doing after I made sure that Voldemort was gone.

Over the years I'd found a few magical ways to spy on people and I had employed a few of those methods to confirm that Riddle was really gone. Merlin's magic mirror confirmed that the Dark Lord was not in the United Kingdom and my crystal ball showed me a sort of smoky ghost thing hiding in some very unfriendly looking woods.

After gathering that information I'd come to the conclusion that Riddle had retreated to the forest in Albania like he had back when baby Potter had destroyed him in the early the nineteen eighties.

Of course Voldemort would return, or at least attempt to return one day, perhaps it would be one day soon, but for now I was reasonable safe as long as none of the Death Eaters knew enough about me to consider me a threat. But even if they did Death Eaters didn't concern me much, I had more than enough knowledge and power to deal with them.

Besides ultimately they weren't my concern, my fight wasn't with the Mort Munchers or their Dark Master. I had other things to deal with but they too could wait.

Right now it was more important to focus on my education. My potential was great and I could become a very powerful Wizard one day but only if I actually learned to utilise the powers I had earned or otherwise been granted.

To this end I was hitting the books, and it was so dull. I could only assume that all my time spent plotting, scheming and generally getting into all kinds of trouble had made other activities to dull in comparison. In short I was bored.

Well not just bored I was a bit annoyed too. It seemed as if the Outcast group was starting to fall apart. Ginny and Neville were spending more and more time with Potter. Harry was also trying to patch things with Granger but most of his efforts were wasted as she was a teenage girl in love.

While it was true Luna and Hermione focused their attentions either on me or homework, meaning we got closer, I wouldn't be surprised if Gin and Nev left the Outcasts to join whatever group Harry had either already set up or soon would.

The sad thing about it was that there was nothing I could do about the fracturing. Friendships fall apart some times, some people get closer while others go in new directions and end up leaving those they knew in the past behind. I wasn't sad about too much as these happened but I couldn't help but feel that the end of an era was upon me.

Although if I was honest with myself I did feel a little disappointed about Neville. He was suppose to be my best friend, yet I hardly spoke to him any more. Admittedly that was partly my fault as I was spending most of my time with the twins and my two secret wives. Also it was I who had encouraged both Neville and Ginny to get closer to Harry as I couldn't afford to. If it weren't for my worries about Dumbledore I might of befriended Potter myself, even though I didn't like him very much, because he was often where the action was and it was important to keep on him in order to fulfil my oath.

However things were different now. With Voldemort having fled the country he was no danger to Harry right now so I was no longer compelled to protect him by the oath I had made. Even if I had been I could of simply of asked the other Outcasts to release me from the oath. That would of released them too but I didn't think it was really needed any more.

Then again I had to consider the fact that Riddle would return one day. I really needed to finish him off but I had no idea how to destroy a ghost smoke thing.

Worse I didn't even know what would happen if I used a portal to get at the Cup and Locket and then destroyed them both. Would Voldemort have to come back to life again in order to be killed or would destroying his anchors force the Dark Lord to move on to what Dumbledore called the next great adventure?

The annoying thing about the Locket was that I couldn't even find the blasted thing. All my attempts at scrying had failed to locate the cursed object. I'd even considered sending Tizzy to go find it but that wouldn't work since I couldn't tell her where the Headquarters of the Order were. I knew it but I couldn't communicate the location to anyone else since I wasn't the Keeper.

Still if I was taken to the Headquarters of the Order this summer I could find and destroy the Locket at least, then I could chose when I would destroy the Cup.

That part seemed simple enough, but these days little worked out the way I wished them to.

The major problem with my current plan of action was that I couldn't be at Headquarters and be at whatever summer school the Traveller had picked out for me.

In the past this hadn't been a problem as nobody seemed to question the fact that I vanished off the face of the Earth for most of the summer holidays, but if I was suppose to spend my time off school somewhere secure then people would notice that I wasn't there. People like the interfering Headmaster for example.

With a sigh I realised that there wasn't anything I could about that but wait and see what happened. Either things would work out or they wouldn't and if they didn't well then I'd just grab what I could and start again elsewhere.

No wait I couldn't because of the damn oath. I'd sworn to protect Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort, so the only way I could leave with violating the oath was if I got rid of Riddle.

Giving the matter even more thought I wondered if I could Soul Trap the bit of soul that was currently floating around the woods in Albania.

It should be possible as that was the Dark Lord's fractured soul out there but I'd have to 'kill' it to Soul Trap it. If the smoke ghost thing was possessing someone then that would work fine as you could Soul Trap more than one living thing at the same time as long you had enough Soul Gems.

The problem there was that I had no idea how to make Riddle posses something nor could I stop him from possessing me. I was sure that I could fight such an attempt but that wouldn't help me to trap the bastard. I was at least sure that I could Soul Trap and kill anything the Dark Lord could posses fast enough, but that didn't really help if he stayed a smoky ghost thingy.

For a few moments I sat back on one of the comfy armchairs that were scattered around the common room and imagined sending the Ghostbusters into the woods in order to deal with Riddle.

It would be very amusing if they actually managed to entrap the spirit of Voldemort, but unless I knew for certain that it would work I wasn't willing to risk the lives of mundane humans even they were experienced in dealing with ghosts.

The communication mirror in my pocket vibrated and I took out the small compact mirror and flicked it open like it was one of those communicators in that old Star Trek TV show.

"Hey Luna" I said by way of greeting.

"I found something you might want to see" reported the teen.

Last time she'd said that I ended up discovering her interesting use for the Hair Removal Curse, and while that had been fun I wasn't really in the mood to play.

"I'm not really..." I started to say but she stopped me.

"Its about the Third Task".

Ah well that was worth looking into. I could use a break from my failed attempt at studying, and if it led to something that involved sneaking around and scheming the all the better.

Really I must have been placed in the wrong School House. What had the Sorting Hat been thinking?

**The School Grounds. Hogwarts School. The Wizarding World. **

"So what did you find?" I asked both my first and second wife.

Luna didn't react at all when I dispelled the Invisibility Spell I'd cast over myself, but Hermione nearly screamed when I spoke.

"How did you do that?" she demanded to know.

"Magic" I answered before repeating my question.

Rather than answer Luna took my hand and led me into the Forbidden Forest were to my surprise a Centaur was waiting for us.

I never would of expected to speak to a Centaur as they loathe humans for the most part and given that it was my fate to destroy the Wizarding World I would of thought that they would go out of their way to avoid being in my presence. I certainly had no desire to speak with the stargazing ponies.

"Greetings Dark Saviour" said the Centaur.

"Err hi" I replied rather lamely.

The creature seemed rather relaxed considered that it was in the presence of the 'Dark Saviour' so I at once assumed that there were other Centaurs nearby all armed with weapons and ready for a fight.

"The Seer has told me of what is to come and about the war you must make upon the Wizards. She has also told us that you can save our race and the other magical beasts".

Well that explained the saviour part of Dark Saviour.

"Has she now" I muttered in an angry tone.

I really did not appreciate her telling these savages things about me. Luna had plans of her own I'd accepted that, but tricking me into a meeting with a Centaur was a bit more than I could easily forgive. It was only the fact that I genuinely loved the ditzy blonde that stopped me from cursing her backside.

"Indeed she did" said the beast who seemed to not understand that what I had just said hadn't in fact been a question "she also warned of us of what is to come and she tells me that you can send us to a different world".

Okay I hadn't seen that coming.

"Wait you want to leave Earth?".

The hybrid creature nodded and then asked me a question.

"Tell me young Wizard, do you know how we Centaurs came to be".

All I knew about Centaurs was that they were a primitive people who let burning balls of gas and lumps of rock tell them what to do. I had no idea how they came about nor did I care.

"Nope" I answered as neutrally as possible, as I didn't want to offend a herd of barbarian warriors on their home turf.

"We Centaurs are not part of nature we were created in a land you know as Greece by a group of very powerful Wizards and Witches called the Twelve Olympians".

Hermione decided to butt in at this point and tell everyone what they all ready knew.

"The Twelve Olympians were the major deities of the Greek pantheon: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hermes".

"Indeed young scholar," agreed the Centaur before carrying on with what he was trying to say "The Twelve were the most powerful magic users in the world at the time and they banded together in order to take control of what is now called Greece. They were worshipped by Muggles as gods, but they had rivals of nearly equal power so to aid them in their battles they merged man and beast into many forms. One of these creations was the first Centaur. We were created to fight men on horse back and the iron chariots".

Well that explained why there were so many magical races. I'd not thought about it until now but it actually made sense that some Greek Wizards were behind all the strange magical creatures and races.

There was evidence to support this as for example the creature know as Cerberus, the three-headed, giant hound that guarded the gates of Hades was not one of a kind, proven by the fact that Hagrid had Fluffy. And if the Greek Wizards had made a race of elephant sized three-headed dogs then it wouldn't be too hard to fuse man and horse together.

Such creatures couldn't be a creation of nature as nature made sense but magic allowed one to pervert what should be in order make things that shouldn't be.

In short Centaurs were just one of many magically made bioweapons.

"And we are not the only ones" confirmed the Centaur "there is one like us in the care of the half-giant Hagrid. A Minotaur"

The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. There were a few old stories in which the Minotaur appeared and each one the creature was slain, so it made sense that there was more than one.

There could be hundreds of them a whole species.

"Like us the Minotaurs were created to be tools of warfare. They are many times stronger than a normal human, have a great sense of smell, they also heal extremely fast and they can put on great bursts of speed if needs be".

So they were the Greek Wizard version of a super solider. That was... interesting.

"It is to serve a role in the next Task" informed the Centaur.

Oh so this did have something to do with the Third Task after all. That at least saved me from having to punish Luna which was a good thing for both of us as I couldn't bring myself to really hurt her. That could be a problem in the long run but it was one I had no solution for as I didn't want to inflict pain and suffering upon the people I cared about but I also needed a way to punish my followers.

I briefly considered the idea of a spell that inflicted a large amount of pleasure rather than pain. It should be simple enough to create as the Torture Curse simulated nerve endings to inflict pain so why not one to inflict pleasure. It would be like having a magical version of that Orgazmorator. That would be a good way of temporally incapacitating an enemy without doing any actual harm and a good orgasm was a nice way to keep the help in line.

Knowing that I needed to focus on the here and now I pushed that very odd line of thought to one side and ignored what could be a sign of growing insanity so that I could get back to the matter at hand.

"So the maze they are building on the pitch isn't in fact maze its a labyrinth" I deduced "the champions will have to escape while being chased by the Minotaur".

Since I knew that Harry was suppose to deal with a maze for the this task I guessed that he would be chased out of the maze by the Minotaur.

"No they are to slay it" corrected the Centaur

"No!" screamed Hermione "that's wrong, they can't just kill someone!".

I'd known for a while that Wizards liked there entertainment to be dangerous but this was a bit much even for them.

"Are you sure?" I asked "it could be like the hostages in the lake, just a misunderstanding of the stakes. Maybe they really do just have to escape the creature".

The Centaur lowered its head and I could sense its sadness.

"The Minotaur knows he is to die. His clan was paid a great sum of gold for his life".

Now that was just sick.

"To most of your kind we are not really people," explained the stargazer "we are lesser creatures, animals to be used. That is what humans do".

Not all humans. There is a big difference between slaughtering animals that don't think for food and slaughtering thinking people for amusement. Humans are omnivores, as a species were are meant to hunt and even kill animals but not for mere entertainment. Killing something you hunt should be a test of skill not amusement for the masses.

Well the Romans did, but they did a lot of weird things.

Admittedly mundane humans of this nation aren't much better what with fox hunting and all, but this Task was just plain wrong. I had to do something about it.

"Okay how about this" I offered "I will just go and set the Minotaur free".

"They would simply bring another here" said the Centaur shooting my idea down.

"Not if I do it just before the Task starts" I countered.

"The Minotaur is not caged, young Wizard" explained the creature with a sigh "it goes to its death willingly because the gold earned will helps its people".

Damn it that really complicated things.

"But you can help" insisted Luna "not just now but later too".

"How?" I asked, wanting some straight answers.

"The stars have always guided us Dark Saviour" said the four-legged man beast "and while it will pain us to live under different stars we must go or we will as a race come to an end".

I had to ask about that title.

"Why do you call me Dark Saviour?".

"You are our saviour" he (or so I assumed) explained "but to save us you must do dark things".

Ah yes of course dark does not always mean evil and light doesn't always mean good.

"I'm surprised you'd trust me to save you" I remarked.

"You have the sword" replied the creature "that is enough".

Oh so it did entitle me to some respect then. That was good to know.

"It would take years to move all the races the Twelve made to another Earth" stated Luna "but you make a start by saving this herd".

Given that Centaurs had survived decades of sharing their home with werewolves, giant spiders, and for a while a unicorn killing Dark Lord, I could imagine a few worlds that would be a paradise in comparison.

"We would ask you to find another world like this" requested the Centaur "your sword entitles you rule this land but it does not matter what version of this land it is. We would not bow to you but we could live under your rule in exchange for lands to call our own".

That surprised me but perhaps it shouldn't as compared to the Ministry even a potential Dark Lord would be an improvement. I'd at least kill them quickly if I felt I had to. The British Ministry, and the other ones across Europe it seemed, were killing all the magical races off slowly by forcing them into demeaning servitude and limiting their lands so they couldn't afford any population growth. That was much more cruel than I could ever manage to be.

"The Ministry limits us to these woods when fields of grass is what we need" the Centaur went on to say "if you could find a world with no humans we could become true nomads once more and hunt as we were meant to. We would happily co-exist with other races such as the Minotaurs as they prefer not to wander far from the caves they call home".

In my mind I could picture a society forming. The magical non-human races would not only survive but prosper. And best of all they would owe it all to me. If arranged things right I could live like a king on their gratitude. As an added bonus it would also prevent genocide and that was a very nice thing.

"I don't want to rule anyone really" I told the Centaur.

Well actually I did but I wanted to rule over humans preferably sexy naked female ones, but I could see how having a saviour leading them to the promised land would appeal to the magical races and I might as well milk it for what it was worth.

"You have the sword" the creature reminded once more "you will rule it is to be".

I really hated destiny at times.

"I'm in school" I pointed out "it will be years before I can start moving you to a suitable magical world".

I'd have to scout out a world and then take the magical creatures one at a time to the new world. They'd need supplies too and tools. The job could take decades if I was indeed suppose to set up all the magical races up on a new world.

"There is no rush" assured the Centaur "the preparations will take three years at least. The magical races must prepare and we must do so without your kind discovering our plan".

And I was going to figure out a way to use the Portal Spell to transport entire herds of kinda people to another world then I was going to have to find some sort of portal making magical object. Then I'd have to strip the enchantments so that I could replicate the device. Or maybe I could ask the Traveller to turn the Veil Of Death into a portal to a world suitable for this plan. It would be much easier to steal the Veil than make a new stable portal to another universe.

At least I had time to figure something out I was good at making plans I'd find a way it was what I did best.

"But what about the Minotaur" protested my second, and hopefully last wife, "we can't let it die!"

"There is a way" promised Luna "all we have to do is to convince the champions not to kill the Minotaur".

That could work. Harry was a hero and wouldn't kill if he didn't have to and Diggory was a stand up guy. Fleur and Krum however, well they would be harder to convince. They might think that we were trying to trick them into not killing the creature in order to help out the Hogwarts champions.

Thankfully trust wasn't that important.

"If we can get all four champions in one place we could use a magical contract that will prevent anyone going back on their word" I said thinking out loud.

I'd gotten rather good at convincing people to do things so I didn't think I'd have any trouble getting them to agree not to participate what could become a blood bath, it was just a matter of getting all four of them in a room then making them sit down and hear me out.

"Do what you must humans" said the Centaur "if you can convince the Champions not to kill then the Minotaur will be free the Seer knows this but if any fight then one will die that day".

I nodded and then turned to leave. My wives falling into step behind me. There was no time like the present after all, we might as well go and talk to them now.

Then I'd start researching spell creation I so needed some way to keep my girls in line.

Or I could just hire someone to do. I had all this money after all. I might as well make use of it.


End file.
